
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE 

ANCIENT CHURCH: 

ITS 

HISTORY, DOCTRINE, WORSHIP, AND 
CONSTITUTION, 

TRACED FOR THE FIRST THREE HUNDRED YEARS. 



W. D. KILLEN, D.D., 

PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY AND PASTORAL THEOLOGY IN THE IRISH 
ASSEMBLY'S COLLEGE, BELFAST, AND PRESIDENT OF THE FACULTY. 



" Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God." 

Psalm lxxxvii. 3. 

A NEW EDITION, CAREFULLY REVISED, 

WITH A PREFACE 

By JOHN HALL, D.D., 

Minister Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Churchy New York, 



APR 13 1883 ' ] 

o t Q' 

TOP ./ A sh!NC^> 



NEW YORK: 
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 

900 Broadway, cor. 2oth Street. 



4 



COPYRIGHT, 1883, BY 
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY. 



NEW YORK: 
EDWARD O. JENKINS, ROBERT RUTTER, 

Printer and Stereotyj>er, Binder, 

20 North William St. 116 and 118 East 14th Street. 



PREFACE 



It is not to be wondered at that in an age which busies itself 
about the beginnings of things, there should be given renewed 
attention to the early history of the Christian Church. They 
who deem religious life in a decaying state must find it diffi- 
cult to reconcile with their view the amount of learning and of 
mental activity devoted to this department of knowledge. If 
the law of demand and supply works with the uniformity com- 
monly ascribed to it, there never were so many persons as in 
our time keenly interested in the Genesis of the Christian 
Church. In England, in Germany, even in France, and in our 
own country, the foremost minds are occupied with questions 
regarding the institutions, the development, and the early 
struggles of a community now making itself felt in every part 
of the world where there is any intellectual life, or indeed any 
human activity. It is not surely presumptuous to hope that 
permanent good will come from so many minds being brought 
again into contact with the Son of God on earth, and with His 
apostles, at that crisis of human history when their words and 
their deeds were the germs of permanent and blessed institu- 
tions. 

It is the special commendation of History, that it widens the 
field of our observation, and enables us to see how great prin- 
ciples — which, like great bodies, move slowly — work themselves 
out in congenial results. It would have been difficult, proba- 
bly, to convince a well-to-do young Hebrew in the later years 
of Solomon's reign, when the precious metals were as stones 
in the street, when foreign fashions were ruling society in Jeru- 
salem, that God-fearing was essential to prosperity, and that 
the religion of the fathers must be maintained in order to na- 
tional dignity and prosperity. But it is only needful to glance 
over the history of Solomon's successor to see how soon evil 
seeds bring forth evil fruit, and how departure from God in- 

(iii) 



IV PREFACE. 

volves the loss of the best social and national blessings. Just 
so it may sometimes seem to a hasty reader of the Epistles, as 
if little things attracted disproportionate attention from the 
apostles — as for example, the eating of "things offered to 
idols " — but a moderate study of the early Church's history 
corrects the impression, and shows that a trifling trend in one 
generation may be a decided and irresistible movement in the 
next. A " false view " of a quarter of an inch at the muzzle 
of the gun will mean the striking of the shot many feet from 
the target. 

For many reasons it is desirable that those who forego any 
approach to an oligarchy in the Church, and who hold by a 
Government at once independent of the State, and in the line 
of popular civil self-government, should be acquainted with the 
annals of the early Church. The foregoing description does 
not by any means include Presbyterians only. The over- 
whelming majority of the Protestant Christians of the United 
States are agreed as to the parity of the clergy, and the seem- 
ing exception in the Methodist Episcopal Church is more 
apparent than real, for a bishop in that great and useful branch 
of the Church is not much different in form and power from 
the " superintendents " in whom Reformers in Scotland saw 
no peril, indeed, not essentially different from synodical mis- 
sionaries working in concert with Boards and Presbyteries in 
the newer fields of the West. 1 Whatever may be guarded in 
name from the appearance of legislative or executive authority, 
in an " Association " among our Baptist and Congregational 
brethren, any Presbyterian admitted thereto by courtesy finds 
the substance of the action of his Presbytery reproduced, even 
as the New England deacon is the exact counterpart of an old- 
world Presbyterian Elder. Perhaps it is not the mere hope of 
an eager partisan, that, as independent activity of mind makes 
itself felt throughout the country, the moral influence of the 
Association or the Presbytery will be found more and more 
important to the preservation of such denominational unity as 
renders close and comfortable organic co-operation possible. 
But whether this hope be realized or not, whether or not it be 
justifiable, every intelligent Presbyterian must be glad that in 

1 The Wesleyan Methodists of England, after much discussion, have admit- 
ted others than ministers to the governing council of the denomination. 



PREFACE. V 

the working of the churches, the lines of his church govern- 
ment are followed so closely by those who, like our Baptist 
brethren, hold so much in common with him of the great Evan- 
gelical system of truth. 

The author whose Ancient Church herewith goes to a second 
American edition, after a brief but remarkably useful pastoral 
life, was called to the Professorship of Church History in 
the Presbyterian College, Belfast, and a large proportion of 
the clergy of the Irish Presbyterian Church have caught the 
spirit of his Lectures on " Church History " and " Pastoral 
Theology." The associate of Dr. Wilson, a clear writer on 
Baptism, of Dr. Cooke, as earnest and evangelical as he was 
eloquent, and of Dr. Murphy, who still lives to do the work of 
a good teacher and an able commentator, and of others like- 
minded, he has helped to train a body of ministers inferior to 
none in Christendom, and to guide the counsels of a church 
which, under many forms of social repression and political dis- 
advantage, has made Ulster a vivid exception to the unrest 
and the misery of the other three provinces of Ireland, and 
from which no mean element of American Presbyterianism has 
drawn its blood and its inspiration. 

Dr. Killen is a pronounced Presbyterian, but not from mere 
hereditary leaning ; but, as the lawyers say, " for cause." It 
will be found, however, that the views here illustrated from 
the early centuries of our era are not now confined to scholars 
of his class. No more evangelical teacher ever preached and 
wrote in the pale of the English Church than Dr. Thomas 
Scott, whose Commentary combines in a high degree just inter- 
pretation with devout feeling and moderation of judgment. 
He did not hesitate, while a minister of the Anglican Estab- 
lishment, to commit his Commentary to the truth, that among 
Ephesian and Philippian Christians in Paul's time, Presbyter 
and Bishop were names of the same church officer. Scott, in- 
deed, was not recognized as a great scholar. Since the issue of 
Dr. Killen's first edition of this work, however, a marked change 
has taken place from a variety of causes, not among historians 
only, but among critics. The language of the earlier tradi- 
tions and chronicles — formulated when diocesan Episcopacy 
had become as thoroughly established as the doctrines of 
Rome, and which gave to every believing man mentioned in 



VI PREFACE. 

th# New Testament a place as " Bishop " — this language had 
been read without hesitation in the prelatic sense. The honest 
admissions however of Ellicott, Lightfoot, and others of un- 
doubted scholarship, in which Scott's views are endorsed, and 
prelacy in the Church is made to be post-apostolic, have entirely 
changed the form of expression, and even in Great Britain, 
where the Episcopal system is deeply rooted, and incorporated 
with the State, have given some color to the suggestion, that 
England would ultimately come to a modified Presbyterianism. 
The opening sentence of Dean Stanley's chapter on "the 
clergy" {Christian Institutions), expresses the received views of 
scholars. " It is certain that throughout the first century, and 
for the first years of the second, that is, through the later chap- 
ters of the Acts, the Apostolical Epistles, and, the writings of 
Clement and Hermas, Bishop and Presbyter were convertible 
terms, and that the body of men so called were the rulers — so 
far as any permanent rulers existed of the early Church." And 
while there is much in statement and in omission in this last 
work of Dean Stanley, to grieve evangelical people who were 
attracted by his genial character, there is timely truth in the 
sentence i 1 " It is certain that in no instance before the begin- 
ning of the third century, the title or function of the Pagan or 
Jewish Priesthood is applied to Christian pastors." With much 
learning, and with some natural desire to make the best show- 
ing possible for modern " orders," Mr. Hatch, of Oxford, yet 
shows that, " when the organization of the churches was more 
complete, it is clear that the jurisdiction belonged to the coun- 
cil of Presbyters." 2 So, " it is clear," he concludes, " that the 
Presbyters of the primitive churches did not necessarily teach. 
They were not debarred from teaching, but if they taught as 
well as ruled, they combined two offices." Nor is it improper 
to quote the following sentence from Mr. Hatch, as embody- 
ing the very idea which Dr. Killen delights to illustrate. 
" When the Episcopal system had established itself, there was 
a bishop wherever in later times there would have been a par- 
ish church. From the small province of Proconsular Asia, 
which was about the. size of Lincolnshire, forty-two bishops 

1 "Christian Institutes," p. 208. 

2 " The Organization of the Early Churches," Bampton Lecture, 1880. 



PREFACE. Vll 

were present at an early council : in the only half-converted 
province of North Africa, four hundred and seventy Episcopal 
towns are known by name." 1 In other words the teaching 
elder of each congregation was a bishop ; he had no earthly 
superior. Hence Mr. Hatch justly adds : " It is therefore 
reasonable to expect that the bishop, as the chief officer of the 
community, presided wherever the community met together." 
It is not only reasonable, it is certain. Just so the Reformed 
Churches of the Presbyterian order have it until this day, in 
Europe, Asia, and America. In the same line with Stanley, 
Mr. Hatch says : " The names by which they (church officers) 
are designated are various but interchangeable ; and their 
variety is probably to be explained by the fact that the same 
officer, or officers having equivalent rank, had various func- 
tions." In the course of the second century indeed, one of the 
names comes to be appropriated to a single officer. We are 
now in the second century of American Independence. If in 
future ages, we should in the matter of government, become 
copyists of European monarchies, it will be enough surely for 
the opponents of the policy to show the principles that ruled 
us from 1776 to 1876, and to claim that model as the original 
Republic, the primitive United States ; and their argument 
would not be impaired by its being shown that undue power 
was allowed to pass into single hands in the course of the sec- 
ond, or the third century of our history. 

It is not of course contended by Dr. Killen, or any other in- 
telligent Presbyterian, that the Presbytery, with moderator, 
clerk, and all minute details of arrangement, are set down in 
the pastoral Epistles. All that is contended for is that princi- 
ples are indicated, guarded, illustrated, and enforced, the de- 
velopment of which in a body of Christian people, uninfluenced 
by outside forces like the State, or by unspiritual aims like the 
love of pre-eminence, or the desire to be like civil governments, 
would imply parity of the ministry, plurality of elders in a 
single congregation, and the representation of the people in 
church courts. There is in the nature of the case in any commu- 
nity a principle of evolution ; but it does not reverse element- 
ary principles. There was no State-house, nor capitol at Wash- 
ington, when the Thirteen States were constituted a Nation, but 

1 P. 78. 



Vlll PREFACE. 

nothing since that time has been allowed to reverse the Con- 
stitution of the Republic. 

We venture to hope that Dr. Killen's book, as it is intel- 
ligible by the ordinary capacity, will have an interested body 
of readers outside the ranks of students and ministers. In- 
telligent adhesion to a church is desirable. It is only by 
intelligent adherents that the machinery and the aggressive 
work of a church are likely to be sustained. Such adherence 
to a denomination is a healthy tie to religion itself. The 
men who can be counted upon as fit for important offices in 
the church, are usually such as know wherefore they are in the 
denomination, and have sympathy with its distinctive aims and 
its honored traditions. They whose connection is only casual 
and loose do not, commonly, add to a church's power ; and it is 
not too much to say that information on subjects of this kind 
does not narrow, but widen the sympathies. It is commonly 
the ignorant and unreasoning who are afflicted with bigotry. 

Nor is it entirely unworthy of notice that some connection 
is commonly found between reverent loyalty to the word as 
touching church-organization on the one hand, and deference 
to it in the inculcation of doctrine on the other. A mistaken 
view of the nature and history of the Church, is a fit prepara- 
tion for the acceptance of error regarding the doctrines to be 
believed. Let the people hold that the apostles appointed 
three orders of ministers — bishops, priests, and deacons — who 
always and everywhere trace their commission to the apostles ; 
that God is pleased to forgive sins in the Church by the priests 
of the Church ; that the Greek, Roman, and Anglican Churches 
make up the Church Catholic ; that all outside these are sec- 
taries cut off from the Catholic Church : and it will be easy 
to believe in a sacrifice to God the Father in the Lord's Sup- 
per ; in the cleansing efficacy of Baptism, in which the seed of 
spiritual life is sown in the soul ; that there are other lesser 
sacramental rites, namely, Confirmation, Holy Order, Absolu- 
tion, and Holy Matrimony ; that the bishop takes the apos- 
tles' place ; that " the sects " were founded not by Jesus Christ, 
but by erring men ; that apostolical succession is like the 
meshes of a large net, but unbroken in the Greek, Anglican, 
and Roman Churches ; and that the Protestant sects have 
abandoned the Catholic ministry and sacraments. 1 



PREFACE. IX 

But the Presbyterian and allied Churches of America do not 
mean to accept principles such as these ; and they do aim at 
the instruction of the people in the truth of God's word, as it 
justified the Reformers' separation from the Roman and Greek 
Churches. They know the history of apostacy, and of the 
Dark Ages. They know the conditions of populations given 
up to sacerdotalism. They understand how ignorance, and 
the reaction against priestly rule in the name of a " Catholic 
Church," which all too often takes shape in infidelity, have 
long contended for the minds of the nations of Europe. They 
have high historic authority for the belief that the Protestant- 
ism of Calvin and of the Puritans saved liberty to England, 
and gave it a home in America ; and they mean to preserve an 
independence of churches so corrupt that it was a duty to 
leave them, which shall be as real and as secure as the inde- 
pendence of the nation. 

If the issue and the circulation of Dr. Killen's Ancient Churchy 
with its fearless statement of historic fact and Scriptural prin- 
ciple, should, through God's blessing, in any degree promote 
these aims, the venerable author will rejoice with a joy which 
the present writer — one of his grateful and appreciative stu- 
dents — may be permitted to share. To many Christians in these 
United States, Dr. Killen's work will recall memories of early 
lessons, of parental convictions, and of church homes, in 
which self-reliance as to any creature, and absolute depend- 
ence upon the infinite power and grace of the Creator, were 
inculcated ; and, possibly, tracing the prosperity God has given 
them to these early teachings, they will renew their resolve to 
transmit the same heritage of faith, and fearless doing of the 
right for Christ's sake to their sons and daughters. So the 
real links are kept bright and strong by which we are bound 
to the true Church of the living God in all its members and 
branches ; and so parents and children, pastors and people, in 
the Church below are trained for the service and the happiness 
of the Church triumphant. 

John Hall, 

Minister, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, N. Y. 
Feb. 8, 1883. 

1 Every one of these statements is found in these words in a " Protestant " 
catechism circulated in New York. 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO THE PRESENT 
EDITION. 



Upwards of twenty years ago the following work appeared 
contemporaneously in London and New York. These English 
and American editions soon found their way into the hands of 
readers ; and a second edition, undertaken by a firm in Great 
Britain, has since been exhausted. The work has been for 
some time out of print ; and, from various quarters, a desire 
has been expressed for its republication. The present edition 
has been carefully revised by the author, and twenty years of 
additional reading have enabled him to introduce into it con- 
siderable improvements. The great facts and principles which 
it originally enunciated remain unchanged, but several points 
are illustrated in a somewhat different manner, and, through- 
out, fresh confirmatory testimonies are subjoined. 

College Park, Belfast, August, 1882. 

(xi) 



PREFATORY NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



When the First Edition of this Work appeared, the author 
was not aware that his views respecting the Ignatian Epis- 
tles had the support of Dr. .Bentley. He has since been* 
delighted to discover that he is, in this matter, sustained by 
the authority of the greatest of English critics. 

In two instances the writer has ventured to dispute the 
accuracy of the textus receptus of the Acts of the Apostles 
(Acts ix. 31, p. 224, and Acts xv. 23, p. 75). A communica- 
tion, received some time ago from Dr. Tischendorf, informs 
him that both the readings here adopted are those of the 
recently-discovered Codex Sinaiticus. 

The author has been much encouraged by Reviewers of 
various denominations who have given this volume their ap- 
proving testimony ; and he begs to call attention to the fact 
that, though he has often left the path trodden by preceding 
historians, no attempt has hitherto been made to prove that 
he has misled his readers. 

Belfast, April $0, 1861. 

(xiii) 



* 



PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION. 



The appearance of another history of the early Church 
requires some explanation. As the progress of the Christian 
commonwealth for the first three hundred years has been re- 
cently described by British, German, and American writers of 
eminent ability, it may, perhaps, be thought that the subject 
is now exhausted. No competent judge will pronounce such 
an opinion. During the last quarter of a century, various 
questions relating to the Ancient Church, which are almost, 
if not altogether, ignored in existing histories, have been 
earnestly discussed ; whilst several documents, lately dis- 
covered, have thrown fresh light on its transactions. There 
are, besides, points of view, disclosing unexplored fields for 
thought, from which the ecclesiastical landscape has never yet 
been contemplated. The following work is an attempt to ex- 
hibit some of its features as seen from a new position. 

The importance of this portion of the history of the Church 
can scarcely be overestimated. Our attention is here directed 
to the life of Christ, to the labors of the apostles and evan- 
gelists, to the doctrines which they taught, to the form of 
worship which they sanctioned, to the organization of the 
community which they founded, and to the indomitable con- 
stancy with which its members suffered persecution. The 
practical bearing of the topics thus brought under review 
must be sufficiently obvious. 

On the interval between the days of the apostles and the 
conversion of Constantine, the Christian commonwealth 
changed it aspect. The Bishop of Rome — a personage un- 

(XV) 



xvi PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION. 

known to the writers of the New Testament — meanwhile rose 
into prominence, and at length took precedence of all other 
churchmen. Rites and ceremonies, of which neither Paul nor 
Peter ever heard, crept silently into use, and then claimed the 
rank of Divine institutions. Officers for whom the primitive 
disciples could have found no place, and titles, which to them 
would have been altogether unintelligible, began to challenge 
.'attention, and to be named apostolic. : It is the duty of the 
historian to endeavor to point out the origin, and to trace the 
progress of these innovations. A satisfactory account of them 
must go far to settle more than one of our present contro- 
versies. An attempt is here made to lay bare the causes which 
produced these changes, and to mark the stages of the eccle- 
siastical revolution. When treating of the rise and growth of 
the hierarchy, several remarkable facts and testimonies which 
have escaped the notice of preceding historians are particu- 
larly noticed. 

L.Some may, perhaps, consider that, in a work such as this, 
undue prominence has been given to the discussion of the 
question of the Ignatian Epistles. Those who have carefully 
examined the subject will scarcely think so. If we accredit 
these documents, the history of the early Church is thrown 
into a state of hopeless confusion ; afnd men, taught and hon- 
ored by the apostles themselves, have inculcated the most 
dangerous errors. But if their claims vanish, when touched 
by the wand of truthful criticism, many clouds which have 
hitherto darkened the ecclesiastical atmosphere disappear; 
and the progress of corruption can be traced on scientific prin- 
ciples. The special attention of all interested in the Ignatian 
controversy is invited to the two chapters of this work in 
which the subject is investigated. Evidence is there produced 
to prove that these Ignatian letters, even as edited by the very 
learned and laborious Doctor Cureton, are utterly spurious ; 
and that they should be swept away from among the genuine 
remains of early Church literature with the besom of scorn. 

Throughout the work very decided views are expressed on 
a variety of topics ; but it must surely be unnecessary to tender 
an apology for the free utterance of these sentiments ; for, 



PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION. XV11 

when recording the progress of a revolution affecting the 
highest interests of man, the narrator can not be expected to 
divest himself of his cherished convictions ; and very few will 
venture to maintain that a writer, who feels no personal inter- 
est in the great principles brought to light by the Gospel, is, 
on that account, more competent to describe the faith, the 
struggles, and the triumphs of the primitive Christians. I am 
not aware that mere prejudice has ever been permitted to in- 
fluence my narrative, or that any statement has been made 
which does not rest upon solid evidence. Some of the views 
here presented may not have been suggested by any previous 
investigator, and they may be exceedingly damaging to certain 
popular theories ; but they should not, therefore, be summarily 
condemned. Surely every honest effort to explain and recon- 
cile the memorials of antiquity is entitled to a candid criti- 
cism. Nor, from those whose opinion is really worthy of re- 
spect, do I despair of a kindly reception for this volume. One 
of the most hopeful signs of the times is the increasing charity 
of evangelical Christians. There is a growing disposition to 
discountenance the spirit of religious partisanship, and to bow 
to the supremacy of TRUTH. I trust that those who are in 
quest of the old paths trodden by the apostles and the mar- 
tyrs will find some light to guide them in the following pages. 



CONTENTS 



PERIOD I. 



FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO THE DEATH OF THE 
APOSTLE JOHN, A.D. IOO. 



SECTION I. 

HISTORY OF THE PLANTING AND GROWTH OF THE APOSTOLIC 

CHURCH. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT THE TIME OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 

The boundaries of the Empire, . . . . . . . I 

Its population, strength, and grandeur, 2 

Its orators, poets, and philosophers, 5 

The influence of Rome upon the provinces, 6 

The languages most extensively spoken, ...... 6 

The moral condition of the Empire, 7 

The influence of the philosophical sects — the Epicureans, the Stoics, 

the Academics, and Plato, 7 

The influence of the current Polytheism, 8 

The state of the Jews — the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes, 9 

Preparations for a great Deliverer, and expectation of His appearance, 9 

CHAPTER II. 

THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

The date of the Birth of Christ, II 

The place of His Birth, II 

The visit of the angel to the shepherds, 12 

The visit of the Magi — the flight into Egypt — and the murder of the 

infants at Bethlehem, 1. 12 

(xix) 



xx CONTENTS. 

The presentation in the Temple, 13 

The infancy and boyhood of Jesus, 14 

His baptism and entrance upon His public ministry, . . . .15 

His mysterious movements, 16 

The remarkable blanks in the accounts given of Him in the Gospels, . 16 

His moral purity, 17 

His doctrine and His mode of teaching, 18 

His miracles 19 

The independence of His proceedings as a reformer, .... 21 

The length of His ministry, 22 

The Sanhedrim and Pontius Pilate, 22 

The Death of Christ, and its significance, 23 

His Resurrection, and His appearance afterward only to His own fol- 
lowers, 25 

His Ascension, 26 

His extraordinary character 27 

Supplementary Note on the year of the Birth of Christ, . 28-30 

CHAPTER III. 

THE TWELVE AND THE SEVENTY. 

Our Lord during His short ministry trained eighty-two preachers — the 

Twelve and the Seventy, 31 

Various names of some of the Twelve, 32 

Relationship of some of the parties, 34 

Original condition of the Twelve, 34 

Various characteristics of the Twelve, 34 

Twelve, why called Apostles 36 

Typical meaning of the appointment of the Twelve and the Seventy, . 37 

In what sense the Apostles founded the Church, 39 

Why so little notice of the Seventy in the New Testament, . . 41 

No account of ordinations of pastors or elders by the Twelve or the 

Seventy , .... 42 

No succession from the Twelve or Seventy can be traced, ... 42 
In what sense the Twelve and Seventy have no successors, and in what 

sense they have, 43~44 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL FROM THE DEATH OF CHRIST TO THE 

DEATH OF THE APOSTLE JAMES, THE BROTHER OF JOHN — 

A.D. 31 TO A.D. 44. 

The successful preaching of the Apostles in Jerusalem, ... 46 

The disciples have all things common, 46 



CONTENTS. XXI 

The appointment of the deacons, 47 

The Apostles refuse to obey the rulers of the Jews, . . . . 48 

The date of the martyrdom of Stephen, 49 

The Gospel preached in Samaria, 50 

The baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch, and of Cornelius the centurion, 51 

The conversion of Saul, his character, position, and sufferings, . . 52 

His visit to Jerusalem, and vision, . 55 

His ministry in Syria and Cilicia, * 56 

His appearance at Antioch, 56 

Why the disciples were called Christians, 57 

Paul and Barnabas sent from Antioch with relief to the poor saints in 

Judea, 57 

The Apostles leave Jerusalem — why no successor appointed on the 

death of James, the brother of John, 58 

Why Paul taken up to Paradise, 60 



CHAPTER V. 

THE ORDINATION OF PAUL AND BARNABAS; THEIR MISSIONARY 

TOUR IN ASIA MINOR; AND THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM — 

A.D. 44 TO A.D. 51. 

Previous position of Paul and Barnabas, 62 

Why now ordained, 63 

Import of ordination, 64 

By whom Paul and Barnabas were ordained, 65 

They visit Cyprus, Perga, Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, and other 

places, 66 

Ordain elders in every Church, 67 

Opposition of the Jews, and dangers of the missionaries, ... 68 
Some insist on the circumcision of the Gentile converts, and are re- 
sisted by Paul, 70 

Why he objected to the proposal, 70 

Deputation to Jerusalem about this question, . . ... .71 

Constituent members of the Council of Jerusalem, .... 72 

Date of the meeting, 73 

Not a popular assembly, .73 

In what capacity the Apostles here acted, 75 

Why the Council said, " It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us," 76 

The decision, 77 

Why the converts were required to abstain from blood and things 

strangled, 77 

Importance of the decision, 78 



XXll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE INTRODUCTION OF THE GOSPEL INTO EUROPE, AND THE MINIS- 
TRY OF PAUL AT PHILIPPI. — A.D. 52. 

Date of Paul's first appearance in Europe, 80 

History of Philippi, .80 

Jewish Oratory there, 81 

Conversion of Lydia, 81 

The damsel with the spirit of divination, 81 

Paul and Silas before the magistrates, 82 

Causes of early persecutions, 83 

Paul and Silas in prison 83 

Earthquake and alarm of the jailer, 84 

Remarkable conversion of the jailer, 85 

Alarm of the magistrates 87 

Liberality of the Philippians 88 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE MINISTRY OF PAUL IN THESSALONICA, BEREA, ATHENS, AND 
CORINTH. — A.D. 52 TO A.D. 54. 

Thessalonica and its rulers 89 

The more noble Bereans, 91 

Athens and its ancient glory, 92 

Paul's appearance among the philosophers, 92 

His speech on Mars' Hill, 92 

Altar to the unknown God 92 

The Epicureans and Stoics, 93 

The resurrection of the body, a strange doctrine, .... 94 

Conversion of Dionysius the Areopagite 95 

Corinth in the first century, 95 

Paul's success here .96 

Works at the trade of a tent-maker, 98 

Corinth a centre of missionary operation, 99 

The Corinthian Church, and its character, 100 

Opposition of Jews, and conduct of the Proconsul Gallio, . . . 100 

Paul writes the First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians, . . 100 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CONVERSION OF APOLLOS ; HIS CHARACTER | AND THE MINISTRY 
OF PAUL IN EPHESUS. — A.D. 54 TO A.D. 57. 

Paul's first visit to Ephesus, 102 

Aquila and Priscilla instruct Apollos, 102 



CONTENTS. xxm 

Position of the Jews in Alexandria, ........ 102 

Gifts of Apollos, 103 

Ministry of Apollos in Corinth, 103 

Paul returns to Ephesus, and disputes in the school of Tyrannus, . 104 

The Epistle to the Galatians, 105 

Paul's visit to Crete, and perils in the sea, 106 

Churches founded at Colosse and elsewhere, 107 

Temple of Diana at Ephesus, and the Elphesian letters, . . . 107 

Apollonius of Tyana, and Paul's miracles, 108 

First Epistle to the Corinthians, 109 

Demetrius and the craftsmen, . no 

The Asiarchs and the town-clerk, in 

Progress of the Gospel in Ephesius, 112 



CHAPTER IX. 

PAUL'S EPISTLES ; HIS COLLECTION FOR THE POOR SAINTS AT JERU- 
SALEM ; HIS IMPRISONMENT THERE, AND AT OESAREA 
AND ROME.— A.D. $7 TO A.D. 63. 

Paul preaches in Macedonia and Illyricum, . . . - . .114 

Writes the First Epistle to Timothy, and the Second Epistle to the 

Corinthians, 1 14 

Arrives in Corinth, and writes the Epistle to the Romans, . . .116 
Sets out on his return to Jerusalem ; and, when at Miletus, sends to 

Ephesus for the elders of the Church, 117 

The collection for the poor saints of Jerusalem carried by seven com- 
missioners, 118 

Riot when Paul appeared in the Temple at Jerusalem, . . .119 
Paul rescued by the chief captain and made a prisoner, . . .119 

Paul before the Sanhedrim, 121 

Removed to Csesarea 122 

Paul before Felix and Festus, 122 

Appeals to Cassar 123 

His defence before Agrippa, . .124 

His voyage to Rome, and shipwreck, 127 

His arrival in Italy, 127 

Greatness and luxury of Rome, 129 

Paul preaches in his own hired house, 132 

His zeal, labors, and success, 133 

Writes to Philemon, to the Colossians, the Ephesians, and the Philip- 

pians, 134 



XXIV CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER X. 



PAUL'S SECOND IMPRISONMENT, AND MARTYRDOM; PETER, HIS 
EPISTLES, HIS MARTYRDOM, AND THE ROMAN CHURCH. 

Evidence of Paul's release from his first Roman imprisonment, . . 136 

His visit to Spain, 136 

Writes the Epistle to the Hebrews, 138 

Revisits Jerusalem, and returns to Rome, 138 

His second Roman imprisonment, . . . . . . .138 

Writes Second Epistle to Timothy, .139 

Date of his martyrdom, 139 

Peter, and the Church of Rome, i . . 140 

Peter writes his Second Epistle, 141 

His testimony to the inspiration of Paul, .141 

His martyrdom, 142 

Circumstances which, at an early period, gave prominence to the 

Church of Rome, 142 

Its remarkable history, 142 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE PERSECUTIONS OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH, AND ITS CONDITION 
AT THE TERMINATION OF THE FIRST CENTURY. 

The Jews at first the chief persecutors of the Church, . . . 144 

Their banishment from Rome by Claudius, 145 

Martyrdom of James the Just, 146 

Why Christians so much persecuted 146 

Persecution of Nero, 147 

A general persecution, 148 

Effect of the fall of Jerusalem, 148 

Persecution of Domitian, 149 

The grandchildren of Jude, 150 

Flavius Clemens and Flavia Domitilla, 150 

John banished to Patmos, 151 

His last days, and death, 152 

State of the Christian interest toward the close of the first century, . 152 

Spread of the Gospel, 153 

Practical power of Christianity 1 54 



CONTENTS. XXV 

SECTION II. 

THE LITERATURE AND THEOLOGY OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE NEW TESTAMENT, ITS HISTORY, AND THE AUTHORITY OF ITS 
VARIOUS PARTS.— THE EPISTLE OF CLEMENT OF ROME. 

Why our Lord wrote nothing Himself, 156 

The order in which the Gospels appeared, 157 

Internal marks of truthfulness and originality in the writings of the 

Evangelists, 158 

The Acts of the Apostles treat chiefly of the acts of Peter and Paul, . 159 
On what principle the Epistles of Paul arranged in the New Testa- 
ment, 160 

The titles of the sacred books not appended by the Apostles or Evan- 
gelists, and the postscripts of the Epistles of Pa,ul not added by 

himself, and often not trustworthy, 161 

The dates of the Catholic Epistles, 161 

The authenticity of the various parts of the New Testament, . ?. 162 
Doubts respecting the Epistle to the Hebrews, and some of the smaller 

Epistles, and the Apocalypse, ". .162 

Division of the New Testament into chapters and verses, . . . 163 
All, in primitive times, were invited and required to study the Script- 
ures, 164 

The autographs of the sacred penmen not necessary to prove the in- 
spiration of their writings, 164 

The Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 165 

The truth of the New Testament established by all the proper tests 

which can be applied, 165 

CHAPTER II. 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 



Same system of doctrine in Old and New Testaments, 

The New Testament the complement of the Old, 

The views of the Apostles at first obscure, . 

New light received after the Resurrection, . 

In the New Testament a full statement of apostolic doctrine 

Sufficiency and plenary inspiration of Scripture, . 

State of man by nature, 

Faith and the Word, 

All the doctrines of the Bible form one system, . 



167 
167 
168 
168 
169 
169 
170 
171 
172 



xxvi CONTENTS. 

The Deity of Christ, 172 

The Incarnation and Atonement, 173 

Predestination, 175 

The Trinity, 175 

Creeds, 176 

Practical tendency of apostolic doctrine, 176 



CHAPTER III. 

THE HERESIES OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 

Original meaning of the word Heresy, 178 

How the word came to signify something wrong, . . . .179 

The Judaizers the earliest errorists, 179 

Views of the Gnostics respecting the present world, the body of Christ, 

and the resurrection of the body, 180 

Simon Magus and other heretics mentioned in the New Testament, . 182 

Carpocrates, Cerinthus, and Ebion, 183 

The Nicolaitanes, 183 

Peculiarities of Jewish sectarianism, 184 

Unity of Apostolic Church not much affected by the heretics, . .185 

Heresy convicted by its practical results, 186 



SECTION III. 

THE WORSHIP AND CONSTITUTION OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE LORD'S DAY; THE WORSHIP OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH ; ITS 
SYMBOLIC ORDINANCES, AND ITS DISCIPLINE. 

Christians assembled for worship on the first day of the week, . .187 
Our Lord recognized the permanent obligation of the Fourth Com- 
mandment, 188 

Worship of the Church resembled, not that of the Temple, but that of 

the Synagogue, 189 

No Liturgies in the Apostolic Church, 191 

No instrumental music, 192 

Scriptures read publicly, 193 

Worship in the vulgar tongue, 193 

Ministers had no official dress, 194 



CONTENTS. 



XXVI 1 



Baptism administered to infants, .... 

Mode of Baptism, 

The Lord's Supper frequently administered, 

The elements not believed to be transubstantiated, 

Profane excluded from the Eucharist, . 

Cases of discipline decided by Church rulers, 

Case of the Corinthian fornicator, 

Share of the people in Church discipline, 

Significance of excommunication in the Apostolic Church, 

Perversion of excommunication by the Church of Rome, 



194 
196 
197 
198 
199 
200 
202 
203 
203 
204 



CHAPTER II. 

THE EXTRAORDINARY TEACHERS OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH; AND 

ITS ORDINARY OFFICE-BEARERS, THEIR APPOINTMENT, 

AND ORDINATION. 

Enumeration of ecclesiastical functionaries in Ephesians iv. II, 12, and 

1 Corinthians xii. 28, 206 

Ordinary Church officers, teachers, rulers, and deacons, . . . 207 

Elders, or bishops, the same as pastors and teachers, . . . 207 

Different duties of elders and deacons, 208 

All the primitive elders did not preach, . . . - . . 208 

The office of the teaching elder most honorable, .... 209 
Even the Apostles considered preaching their highest function, . .211 

Timothy and Titus not diocesan bishops of Ephesus and Crete, . 214 
The Pastoral Epistles inculcate all the duties of ministers of the 

Word, 214 

Ministers of the Word should exercise no lordship over each other, . 215 
The members of the Apostolic Churches elected all their own office- 
bearers, 216 

Church officers ordained by the presbytery, 218 

The office of deaconess, 220 

All the members of the Apostolic Churches taught to contribute to 

each other's edification, 221 



CHAPTER III. 

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 

Unity of the Church of Israel, 223 

Christian Church also made up of associated congregations, . . 224 

The Apostles act upon the principle of ecclesiastical confederation, . 225 
Polity of the Christian Church borrowed from the institutions of the 

Israelites, ■ . . . . 225 

Account of the Sanhedrim and inferior Jewish courts, . . . 226 



XXV111 CONTENTS. 

Evidences of similar arrangements in the Christian Church, . . 227 
How the meeting mentioned in the 1 5th chapter of the Acts differed 

in its construction from the Sanhedrim, 228 

Why we have not a more particular account of the government of the 

Christian Church in the New Testament, 229 

No higher and lower houses of convocation in the Apostolic Church, . 230 

James not bishop of Jerusalem, 230 

Origin of the story, 230 

Jerusalem for some time the stated place of meeting of the highest 

court of the Christian Church, 231 

Traces of provincial organization in Proconsular Asia, Galatia, and 

other districts, among the Apostolic Churches, .... 232 
Intercourse between Apostolic Churches by letters and deputations, . 233 
How there were preachers in the Apostolic Church of whom the 

Apostles disapproved, 234 

The unity of the Apostolic Church — in what it consisted, to what it 

may be compared, 235 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE ANGELS OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 

The mysterious symbols of the Apocalypse, 237 

The seven stars seven angels, 238 

These angels not angelic beings, and not corporate bodies, but indi- 
viduals, 239 

The name angel probably not taken from that of an officer of the syna- 
gogue, 239 

The angel of the synagogue a congregational officer, .... 239 

The angels of the Churches not diocesan bishops 240 

The stars, not attached to the candlesticks, but in the hand of Christ, 241 
The angels of the Churches were their messengers sent to visit John 

in Patmos, 242 

Why only seven angels named, 244 



PERIOD II. 

FROM THE DEATH OF THE APOSTLE JOHN TO THE CON- 
VERSION OF CONST ANTINE. — A.D. IOO TO A.D. 3 1 2. 



SECTION I. 

THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH. 

Prospects of the Church in the beginning of the second century, . 249 

Christianity recommended by its good fruits, 251 

Diffusion of Scriptures and preparation of versions in other languages, 251 

Doubtful character of the miracles attributed to this period, . . 253 

Remarkable progress of the Gospel, 254 

Christianity propagated in Africa, France, Thrace, and Scotland, . 254 

Testimonies to its success, 255 

Gains ground rapidly toward the close of the third century, . . 256 

Its progress, how to be tested, 256 



CHAPTER II. 



THE PERSECUTIONS OF THE CHURCH. 



Spectators impressed by the sufferings of the Christians, 
The blood of the martyrs the seed of the Church, 
Persecution promoted the purity of the Church, . 
Christian graces gloriously displayed in times of persecution, 
Private sufferings of the Christians, .... 
How far the Romans acted on a principle of toleration, 
Christianity opposed as a " new religion," . 
Correspondence between Pliny and Trajan, 

Law of Trajan, 

Martyrdom of Simeon of Jerusalem, .... 



258 
258 
259 
260 
260 
261 
262 
262 
263 
263 



(xxix) 



XXX CONTENTS. 

Sufferings of Christians under Hadrian, 264 

Hadrian's rescript, 264 

Marcus Aurelius a persecutor, 265 

Justin and Polycarp martyred, 266 

Persecution at Lyons and Vienne, 267 

Absurd passion for martyrdom, 267 

Treatment of the Christians by Septimius Severus, .... 269 

The Libellatici and Thurificati, 270 

Perpetua and Felicitas martyred, 271 

Alexander Severus and Philip the Arabian favorable to the Chris- 
tians, 272 

Persecution under Decius, 274 

Persecution under Valerian, 274 

Gallienus issues an edict of toleration, 275 

State of the Church during the last forty years of the third century, . 275 

Diocletian persecution, 276 

The Traditors, 277 

Cruelties now practiced, 277 

Not ten general persecutions, 279 

Deaths of the persecutors, 279 

Causes of the persecutions, 280 

The sufferings of the Christians did not teach them toleration, . . 281 



CHAPTER III. 

FALSE BRETHREN AND FALSE PRINCIPLES IN THE CHURCH; SPIRIT 
AND CHARACTER OF THE CHRISTIANS. 

Piety of the early Christians not superior to that of all succeeding 

ages, 283 

Covetous and immoral pastors in the ancient Church, . . . 283 

Asceticism and its pagan origin, 284 

The unmarried clergy and the virgins, 285 

Paul and Antony the first hermits, 286 

Origin of the use of the sign of the cross, 286 

Opposition of the Christians to image-worship, 289 

Image-makers condemned, 290 

Objections of the Christians to the theatre, the gladiatorial shows, and 

other public spectacles, . . . . * . . . ,291 

Superior morality of the mass of the early Christians, .... 292 

How they treated the question of polygamy, 292 

Condemned intermarriages with heathens, 293 

How they dealt with the question of slavery, 293 

Influence of Christianity on the condition of the slave, . . . 294 

\ 



CONTENTS. XXXI 

Brotherly love of the Christians, 295 

Their kindness to distressed heathens, 296 

Christianity fitted for all mankind, . . 297 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE CHURCH OF ROME IN THE SECOND CENTURY. 

Weak historical foundation of Romanism, 299 

Church of Rome not founded by either Paul or Peter, . . . 300 

Its probable origin, 300 

Little known of its primitive condition, 300 

Its early episcopal succession a riddle, . . . • », • • 3 QI 

Martyrdom of Telesphorus, 301 

Heresiarchs in Rome, 302 

Its presiding presbyter called bishop, and invested with additional 

power, 302 

Beginning of the Catholic system, 302 

Changes in the ecclesiastical constitution not accomplished without 

opposition, 303 

Visit of Polycarp to Rome, 303 

Why so much deference so soon paid to the Roman Church, . . 304 

Wealth and influence of its members, . 305 

Remarkable testimony of Irenaeus respecting it, . . . . . 306 

Under what circumstances given, 306 

Victor's excommunication of the Asiatic Christians, .... 308 

Extent of Victor's jurisdiction, 309 

Explanation of his arrogance, 309 

First-fruits of the Catholic system, 311 

CHAPTER V. 

THE CHURCH OF ROME IN THE THIRD CENTURY. 

Genuine letters of the early bishops of Rome and false Decretal 

epistles, 312 

Discovery of the statue of Hippolytus and of his " Philosophumena," . 313 

The Roman bishops Zephyrinus and Callistus, 314 

Heresy of Zephyrinus, 314 

Extraordinary career and heresy of Callistus, 315 

The bishop of Rome not a metropolitan in the time of Hippolytus, . 317 
Bishops of Rome chosen by the votes of clergy and people, . .317 

Remarkable election of Fabian, 318 

Discovery of the catacombs, . . . . . . . .318 

Origin of the catacombs, and how used by the Christians of Rome, . 319 

The testimony of their inscriptions, 320 



XXX11 CONTENTS. 

The ancient Roman clergy married, 321 

Severity of persecution at Rome about the middle of the third 

century, 322 

Four Roman bishops martyred, 322 

Statistics of the Roman Church about this period, .... 323 

Schism of Novatian, 324 

Controversy respecting rebaptism of heretics, and rashness of Stephen, 

bishop of Rome, 324 

Misinterpretation of Matt. xvi. 18 325 

Increasing power of Roman bishop, 327 

The bishop of Rome becomes a metropolitan, and is recognized by the 

Emperor Aurelian, * 328 

Early Roman bishops spoke and wrote in Greek, .... 328 

Obscurity of their early annals, 328 

Advancement of their power during the second and third centuries, . 329 

Causes of their remarkable progress, 330 



SECTION II. 

THE LITERATURE AND THEOLOGY OF THE CHURCH. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS. 

The amount of their extant writings, 331 

The Epistle of Polycarp, 332 

Justin Martyr, his history and his works 332 

The Epistle to Diognetus, 334 

Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, and Hermas, 334 

The Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas, . . . 334 

Papias and Hegesippus, 335 

Irenaeus and his Works, 335 

Tertullian, his character and writings, 336 

Clement of Alexandria, 339 

Hippolytus, 340 

Minucius Felix, 341 

Origen — his early history and remarkable career — his great learning — 
his speculative spirit — his treatise against Celsus and his " Hex- 

apla " — his theological peculiarities, 341 

Cyprian — his training, character, and writings, 346 

Gregory Thaumaturgus, 349 



CONTENTS. XXX111 

The value of the Fathers as ecclesiastical authorities, .... 349 

Their erroneous and absurd expositions, 350 

The excellency of Scripture, 352 

CHAPTER II. 

THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES AND THEIR CLAIMS— THE EXTERNAL EVI- 
DENCE. 

The journeys undertaken in search of the lgnatian Epistles, and the 

amount of literature to which they have given birth, . . . 354 

Why these letters have awakened such interest, 356 

The story of Ignatius and its difficulties, 356 

The Seven Epistles known to Eusebius and those which appeared 

afterward, 358 

The different recensions of the Seven Letters known to Eusebius, . 359 

The discovery of the Syriac version, 360 

Diminished size of the Curetonian Letters, 360 

The testimony of Eusebius considered, 362 

The testimony of Origen, 363 

The lgnatian Epistles not recognized by Irenasus or Polycarp, . . 364 
These letters not known to Tertullian, Hippolytus, and other early 

writers, . . ~ 365 

The date of their fabrication. Their multiplication accounted for, . 372 
Remarkable that spurious works are often found in more than one 

edition, 374 

CHAPTER III. 

THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES AND THEIR CLAIMS— THE INTERNAL EVI- 
DENCE. 

The history of these epistles like the story of the Sibylline books, . 376 
The three Curetonian Letters as objectionable as those formerly pub- 
lished, 377 

The style suspicious, challenged by Ussher, 377 

The Word of God strangely ignored in these letters 378 

Their chronological blunders betray their forgery, .... 380 
Various words in 'them have a meaning which they did not acquire 

until after the time of Ignatius, 382 

Their puerilities, vaporing, and mysticism betray their spuriousness, . 384 

The anxiety for martyrdom displayed in them attests their forgery, . 385 
The internal evidence confirms the view already taken of the date of 

their fabrication, 387 

Strange attachment of Episcopalians to these letters, .... 389 

The sagacity of Calvin, 389 



XXXIV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE GNOSTICS, THE MONTANISTS, AND THE MANICH/EANS. 

The early heresies numerous, 391 

The systems with which Christianity had to struggle, . . .391 

The leading peculiarities of Gnosticism, 392 

The ^Eons, the Demiurge, and the Saviour, 394 

Saturninus, Basilides, and Valentine, 395 

Marcion and Carpocrates, 395 

Causes of the popularity of Gnosticism, and its defects, . . . 396 

Montanus and his system, 397 

His success and condemnation, 398 

Mani and his doctrine of the Two Principles, 399 

The Elect and Hearers of the Manichasans, 400 

Martyrdom of Mani 401 

Peculiarities of the heretics gradually adopted by the Catholic Church, 401 

Doctrine of Venial and Mortal Sins, 401 

Doctrine of Purgatory, 402 

Celibacy and Asceticism, 404 

CHAPTER V. 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 

Leading doctrines of the Gospel still acknowledged, .... 405 

Meaning of theological terms not yet exactly defined, . . . 405 

Scripture venerated and studied, 407 

Extraordinary Scriptural acquirements of some of the early Christians, 407 

Doctrine of Plenary Inspiration of Scripture taught, .... 409 

The canon of the New Testament, . , 410 

Spurious scriptures and tradition, 411 

Human Depravity and Regeneration, 411 

Christ worshipped by the early Christians, 411 

Christ God and man, 412 

The Ebionites, Theodotus, Artemon, and Paul of Samosata, . .412 

Doctrine of the Trinity, 413 

Praxeas, Noetus, and Sabellius, 415 

Doctrine of the Trinity not borrowed from Platonism, . . . 416 

The Atonement and Justification by Faith, 417 

Grace and Predestination, 417 

Theological errors, 418 

Our knowledge of the Gospel does not depend on our proximity to the 

days of the Apostles, 418 



CONTENTS. XXXV 

SECTION III. 

THE WORSHIP AND CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE WORSHIP OF THE CHURCH. 

Splendor of the Pagan and Jewish worship — simplicity of Christian 

worship, 4 2 i 

The places of worship of the early Christians, 422 

Psalmody of the Church, 423 

No instrumental music, • . . 424 

No forms of prayer used by the early pastors, 424 

Congregation stood at prayer, 425 

Worship, how conducted, 426 

Scriptures read in public worship, 426 

The manner of preaching, 427 

Deportment of the congregation, 428 

Dress of ministers, 428 

Great change between this and the sixteenth century, . . . 428 

CHAPTER II. 

BAPTISM. 

Polycarp probably baptized in infancy, . . . . • . . 430 

Testimony of Justin Martyr and Irenasus for Infant Baptism, . . 431 

Testimony of Origen, 432 

Objections of Tertullian examined, 432 

Sponsors in Baptism, who they were, 433 

The Baptism of Blood, 434 

Infant Baptism universal in Africa in the days of Cyprian, . . . 436 

The mode of Baptism not considered essential, 436 

Errors respecting Baptism, and new rites added to the original insti- 
tution, 437 

The Baptismal Service the germ of a Church Liturgy, . . . 438 

Evils connected with the corruption of the baptismal institute, . . 438 

CHAPTER III. 

THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

Danger of changing any part of a typical ordinance, .... 440 
How the Holy Supper was administered in Rome in the second 

century, 441 



XXXV 1 



CONTENTS. 



The posture of the communicants — sitting and standing, 
The bread not unleavened, .... 

Wine mixed with water 

Bread not put into the mouth by the minister, 

Infant communion, 

How often the Lord's Supper celebrated, 

The words Sacrament and Transnbstantiatio?i, 

Bread and wine types or symbols, 

How Christ is present in the Eucharist, 

Growth of superstition in regard to the Eucharist, 

Danger of using language not warranted by Scripture, 



442 

442 
442 
442 
443 
443 
443 
444 
444 
445 
446 



CHAPTER IV. 

CONFESSION AND PENANCE. 

Confession often made at Baptism by disciples of John the Baptist, 

and of Christ, 447 

The early converts forthwith baptized, 447 

In the second century fasting preceded Baptism, .... 448 

The exomologesis of penitents 448 

Influence of the mind on the body, and of the body on the mind, . 449 

Fasting not an ordinary duty, 449 

Fasts of the ancient Church, . 450 

Fasting soon made a test of repentance, 450 

The ancient penitential discipline, 451 

Establishment of a Penitentiary, 452 

Different classes of penitents, 452 

Auricular confession now unknown, 452 

Increasing spiritual darkness leads to confusion of terms, . . 453 



CHAPTER V. 

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH IN THE SECOND CENTURY. 



Statement of Justin Martyr, 

Great obscurity resting on the subject, .... 

Illustrated by the Epistles of Clement and Polycarp, . 
Circumstances which led to the writing of Clement's Epistle, 
Churches of Corinth and Rome then governed by presbyters, 
Churches of Smyrna and Philippi governed by presbyters, . 
The presbyters had a chairman or president, 

Traces of this in the apostolic age, 

Early catalogues of bishops — their origin and contradictions, 
The senior presbyter the ancient president, .... 



454 
455 
456 
456 
457 
458 

459 
460 
460 
461 



CONTENTS. XXXV11 

Testimony of Hilary confirmed by various proofs, .... 462 

Ancient names of the president of the presbytery, . . ' . . 463 

Great age of ancient bishops, 463 

Great number of ancient bishops in a given period, .... 464 

Remarkable case of the Church of Jerusalem, 465 

No parallel to it in more recent times, 466 

Argument against heretics from the episcopal succession illustrated, . 467 

The claims of seniority long respected in various ways, . . . 469 
The power of the presiding presbyter limited, for the Church was still 

governed by the common council of the presbyters, . . . 470 

Change of the law of seniority, 471 

Change made about the end of the second century, .... 472 
Singular that many episcopal lists stop at the end of the second cent- 
ury, 472 

Before that date only one bishop in Egypt, . . . . . . 474 

In some places another system set up earlier, . . . . . 474 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE RISE OF THE HIERARCHY CONNECTED WITH THE SPREAD OF 

HERESIES. 



Eusebius. The defects of his Ecclesiastical History, 
Superior erudition of Jerome, .... 
His account of the origin of Prelacy, . 
Prelacy originated after the apostolic age, . 
Suggested by the distractions of the Church, 
Formidable and vexatious character of the early heresies, 
Mode of appointing the president of the eldership changed 

election of bishops, how introduced, 
The various statements of Jerome consistent, 
The primitive moderator and the bishop contrasted, 
How the decree relative to a change in the ecclesiastical constitution 

adopted throughout the whole world, 487 



Popular 



475 
476 
476 
477 
478 
483 

484 
485 
486 



CHAPTER VII. 

PRELACY BEGINS IN ROME. 

Comparative length of the lives of the early bishops of Rome, . . 489 
Observations relative to a change in the organization of the Roman 

Church in the time of Hyginus, 490 

1. The statement of Hilary will account for the increased average in 

the length of episcopal life, 490 

2. The testimony of Jerome can not otherwise be explained, . . 492 



XXXV111 



CONTENTS. 



3. Hilary indicates that the constitution of the Church was changed 

about this period, 493 

4. At this time such an arrangement must naturally have suggested 

itself to the Roman Christians, 494 

5. The violent death of Telesphorus fitted to prepare the way for it, 494 

6. The influence of Rome would recommend its adoption, . . 495 

7. A vacancy which occurred after the death of Hyginus accords with 

this view. Valentine a candidate for the Roman bishopric, . 496 

8. The letters of Pius to Justus corroborate this view, . . . 497 

9. It is sustained by the fact that the word bishop now began to be 

applied to the presiding elder 497 

10. The Pontifical Book remarkably confirms it — Not strange that 

history speaks so little of this change, 499 

Little alteration at first apparent in the general aspect of the Church 

in consequence of the adoption of the new principle, . . .501 

Facility with which the change could be accomplished, . . . 503 

Polycarp probably dissatisfied with the new arrangements, . . 507 

Change, in all likelihood, not much opposed, 507 

Many presbyters, as well as the people, would be favorable to it, . 509 

The new system gradually spread 510 

CHAPTER VIII. 



THE CATHOLIC SYSTEM. 

History of the word Catholic, .... 
Circumstances in which the system originated, . 
The bishop the centre of unity for his district, 
Principal or Apostolic Churches — their position, 
The Church of Rome more potentially principal, 
How communion maintained among the Churches, 
Early jealousy toward the bishop of Rome, . 
The Catholic system identified with Rome, . 
Why the Apostle Peter everywhere so highly exalted, 
Roman bishops sought to work out the idea of unity, 
Theory of the Catholic system fallacious, 
How Rome the antitype of Babylon, . 



5ii 

512 

515 
515 
516 

517 
517 
518 

519 
520 
521 

522 



CHAPTER IX. 

PRIMITIVE EPISCOPACY AND PRESBYTERIAN ORDINATION. 

Where Christians formed only a single congregation Episcopacy made 

little change, 524 

The bishop the parish minister, • . 524 

Every one who could might preach if the bishops permitted, . . 525 



CONTENTS. XXXIX 

Bishops thickly planted — all of equal rank — the greatest had very limit- 
ed jurisdiction, 5 2 6 

Ecclesiastics often engaged in secular pursuits, 527 

The Alexandrian presbyters made their bishops, . . . .528 

When this practice ceased, 529 

Alexandrian bishops not originally ordained by imposition of hands, . 530 
Roman presbyters and others made their bishops, . . . .531 

The bishop the presiding elder — early Roman bishops so called, . 531 

Bishops of the order of the presbytery, . . . . . . 533 

All Christian ministers originally ordained by presbyters, . . -534 

A bishop ordained by a bishop and a presbyter, 534 

Difference between ancient and modern bishops, . . , 535 

CHAPTER X. 

THE PROGRESS OF PRELACY. 

Power of the president of a court, 537 

Power of the ecclesiastical president increased when elected by the 

people, 538 

The superior wealth of the bishop added to his influence, . . .538 

Appointment of lectors, sub-deacons, acolyths, exorcists, and janitors, 539 

These new offices first appeared in Rome, 540 

Bishops began to appoint church officers without consulting the 

people, 540 

New canons relative to ordination, 542 

Presbyters ceased to inaugurate bishops, . . . . . 543 

Presbyters continued to ordain presbyters and deacons, * . . . 543 

Country bishops deprived of the right to ordain, 544 

Account of their degradation, 544 

Rise of metropolitans, 545 

Circumstances which added to the power of the city bishops, . . 547 

One bishop in each province at the head of the rest, .... 548 

Jealousies and contentions of city bishops, 548 

Great change in the Church in two centuries, 549 

Reasons why the establishment of metropolitans so much opposed, . 550 

CHAPTER XL 

SYNODS— THEIR HISTORY AND CONSTITUTION. 

Apostles sought, first, the conversion of sinners, and then the edifica- 
tion of their converts, 552 

No general union of Churches originally, . . . . . .553 

But intercourse in various ways maintained, 553 

Synods did not commence about the middle of the second century, . 555 



xl CONTENTS. 

A part of the original constitution of the Church, 

At first held on a limited scale, 

Reason why we have no account of early Synods, 

First notice of Synods, 

Synods held respecting the Paschal controversy, 

Found in operation everywhere before the end of the second century 

Tertullian does not say that Synods commenced in Greece, 

Why he notices the Greek Synods, 

Amphictyonic Council did not suggest the establishment of Synods, 
Synods originally met only once a year, ..... 
Began to meet in fixed places in Greece and Asia Minor, . 
Met twice a year in the beginning of the fourth century, 
Synods in third century respecting rebaptism, 
Synods at Antioch respecting Paul of Samosata, 
Early Synods composed of bishops and elders, 
Deacons and laymen had no right of voting, 
Churches not originally independent, . 

Utility of Synods, 

Circumstances which led to a change in their constitution, . 
Decline of primitive polity, 



555 
556 
556 

5 57 
557 
557 
558 

559 
561 
561 
562 
562 

563 
563 
564 
564 
565 
566 
566 
567 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE CEREMONIES AND DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH, AS ILLUSTRATED 
BY CURRENT CONTROVERSIES AND DIVISIONS. 

The rise of the Nazarenes, 568 

Lessons taught by their history, 569 

The Paschal controversy and Victor's excommunication, . . . 570 

Danger of depending on tradition, 572 

Institution of Easter unnecessary, 573 

The tickets of peace and the schism of Felicissimus 574 

Schism of No vatian, 575 

Controversy respecting the baptism of heretics, and Stephen's excom- 
munication, 576 

Uniformity in discipline and ceremonies not to be found in the ancient 

Church, 577 

Increasing intolerance of the dominant party in the Church, . . 578 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE THEORY OF THE CHURCH, AND THE HISTORY OF ITS PERVER- 
SION — CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 

The Church invisible and its attributes, 580 

The visible Church and its defects, 581 



CONTENTS. 



xli 



The holy Catholic Church — what it meant, 582 

Church visible and Church invisible confounded, .... 583 

Evils of the Catholic system, 585 

Establishment of an odious ecclesiastical monopoly 585 

Pastors began to be called priests, 587 

Arrogant assumptions of bishops, 589 

The Catholic system encouraged bigotry, 589 

Its ungenerous spirit, . 590 

The claims of the Word of God not properly recognized, . . . 591 

Many corruptions already in the Church, 593 

The establishment of the hierarchy a grand mistake, .... 595 

Only promoted outward, not real unity, __ 595 

Sad state of the Church when Catholicism was fully developed, . • 597 

Evangelical unity — in what it consists, 598 



PERIOD I. 

FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO THE DEATH OF 
THE APOSTLE JOHN, A.D. 100. 



SECTION I. 



HISTORY OF THE PLANTING AND GROWTH OF THE 
APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT THE TIME OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 

UPWARDS of a quarter of a century before the Birth of 
Christ, the grandnephew of Julius Caesar had become sole 
master of the Roman world. Never at any former period had 
so many human beings acknowledged the authority of a single 
potentate. Some of the most powerful monarchies at present 
in Europe extend over only a fraction of the territory which 
Augustus governed. The Atlantic on the west, the Euphrates 
on the east, the Danube and the Rhine on the north, and the 
deserts of Africa on the south, were the boundaries of his 
empire. 

We do not adequately estimate the rank of Augustus among 
contemporary sovereigns, when we consider merely the super- 
ficial extent of the countries placed within the range of his 
jurisdiction. His subjects formed more than one-third of the 
entire population of the globe, and amounted to one hundred 
millions of souls. 1 His empire embraced within its immense 
circumference the best cultivated and the most civilized por- 

1 Mr. Merivale, in his " History of the Romans under the Empire " (vol. 
iv., p. 450), estimates the population in the time of Augustus at eighty-five 
millions, but in this reckoning he does not include Palestine, and perhaps 
some of his calculations are rather low. Greswell computes the population 
of Palestine at ten millions, and that of the whole empire at one hundred 
and twenty millions. (" Dissertations upon an Harmony of the Gospels," 
vol. iv., p. 11,493.) 



2 THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT 

tions of the earth. The remains of its populous cities, its 
great fortresses, its extensive aqueducts, and its stately tem- 
ples, still exist as memorials of its grandeur. The capital was 
connected with the most distant provinces by carefully con- 
structed roads, along which the legions could march with ease 
and promptitude, either to quell an internal insurrection, or to 
encounter an invading enemy. And the military resources at 
the command of Augustus were abundantly sufficient to main- 
tain obedience among the myriads whom he governed. After 
the victory of Actium he was at the head of upwards of forty 
veteran legions ; and though some of these had been deci- 
mated by war, yet, when recruited, and furnished with their 
full complement of auxiliaries, they constituted a force of little 
less than half a million of soldiers. 

The arts of peace now flourished under the sunshine of im- 
perial patronage. Augustus could boast, toward the end of 
his reign, that he had converted Rome from a city of brick 
huts into a city of marble palaces. The wealth of the nobility 
was enormous ; and, excited by the example of the Emperor 
and his friend Agrippa, they erected and decorated mansions 
in a style of regal magnificence. The taste cherished in the 
capital was soon widely diffused ; and, in a short period, many 
new and gorgeous temples and cities appeared throughout the 
empire. Herod the Great expended vast sums on architect- 
ural improvements. The Temple of Jerusalem, rebuilt under 
his administration, was one of the wonders of the world. 

The century terminating with the death of Augustus claims 
an undisputed pre-eminence in the history of Roman eloquence 
and literature. Cicero, the prince of Latin orators, now deliv- 
ered those addresses which perpetuate his fame ; Sallust and 
Livy produced works still regarded as models of historic com- 
position ; Horace, Virgil, and others, acquired celebrity as 
gifted and accomplished poets. Among the subjects fitted to 
exercise and expand the intellect, religion was not overlooked. 
In the great cities of the empire many were to be found who 
devoted themselves to metaphysical and ethical studies ; and 
questions, bearing on the highest interests of man, were dis- 
cussed in the schools of the philosophers. 



THE TIME OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 3 

The barbarous nations under the dominion of Augustus de- 
rived many advantages from their connection with the Roman 
empire. They had often reason to complain of the injustice 
and rapacity of provincial governors ; but, on the whole, they 
had a larger share of social comfort than they could have en- 
joyed had they preserved their independence ; for their do- 
mestic feuds were repressed by the presence of their powerful 
rulers, and the imperial armies were at hand to protect them 
against foreign aggression. By means of the constant inter- 
course kept up with all its dependencies, the skill and infor- 
mation of the metropolis of Italy were gradually imparted to 
the rude tribes under its sway ; and thus the conquest of a 
savage country by the Romans was an important step toward 
its civilization. The union of so many nations in a great state 
was otherwise beneficial to society. A Roman citizen could 
travel without hindrance from Armenia to the British Channel ; 
and as all the countries washed by the Mediterranean were 
subject to the empire, their inhabitants carried on a regular 
and prosperous traffic by availing themselves of the facilities 
of navigation. 

The conquests of Rome modified the vernacular dialects of 
not a few of its subjugated provinces, and greatly promoted 
the diffusion of Latin. That language, which had gradually 
spread throughout Italy and the west of Europe, was at length 
understood by persons of rank and education in most parts of 
the empire. But in the time of Augustus, Greek was spoken 
still more extensively. Several centuries before, it had been 
planted in all the countries conquered by Alexander the 
Great ; and it was now not only the most general, but also the 
most fashionable medium of communication. Even Rome 
swarmed with learned Greeks, who employed their native 
tongue when giving instruction in the higher branches of edu- 
cation. Greece itself, however, was considered the headquar- 
ters of intellectual cultivation ; and the wealthier Romans were 
wont to send their sons to its celebrated seats of learning, to 
improve their acquaintance with philosophy and literature. 

The Roman Empire in the time of Augustus presents to 
the eye of contemplation a most interesting spectacle, whether 



4 THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT 

we survey its territorial magnitude, its political power, or its 
intellectual activity. But when we look more minutely at its 
condition, we discover many other strongly marked and less 
inviting features. That stern patriotism, which imparted so 
much dignity to the old Roman character, had disappeared, 
and its place was occupied by ambition or covetousness. Ve- 
nality reigned throughout every department of the public 
administration. Those domestic virtues, which are at once 
the ornaments and the strength of the community, were com- 
paratively rare ; and the prevalence of luxury and licentious- 
ness proclaimed the unsafe state of the social fabric. There 
was a growing disposition to evade the responsibilities of mar- 
riage, and a large portion of the citizens of Rome deliberately 
preferred the system of concubinage to the state of wedlock. 
The civil wars which had created such confusion and involved 
such bloodshed, had passed away ; but the peace which fol- 
lowed was rather the quietude of exhaustion than the repose 
of contentment. 

The state of the Roman Empire at the time of the birth of 
Christ abundantly proves that there is no necessary connection 
between intellectual refinement and social regeneration. The 
cultivation of the arts and sciences in the reign of Augustus 
was beneficial to a few, by diverting them from the pursuit of 
vulgar pleasures, and opening up to them sources of more ra- 
tional enjoyment ; but during the brightest period in the his- 
tory of Roman literature, vice in every form was fast gaining 
ground among almost all classes of the population. The 
Greeks, though occupying a higher position as to mental ac- 
complishments, were still more dissolute than the Latins. 
Among them literature and sensuality appeared in revolting 
combination, for their courtesans were the only females who 
attended to the culture of the intellect. 1 

Nor is it strange that the Roman Empire at this period ex- 
hibited such a scene of moral pollution. There was nothing 
in either the philosophy or the religion of heathenism sufficient 
to counteract the influence of man's native depravity. In 

1 See the article 'Eraipat in Smith's " Dictionary of Greek and Roman 
Antiquities." 



THE TIME OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 5 

many instances, the speculations of the pagan sages had a 
tendency rather to weaken than to sustain the authority of 
conscience. After unsettling the foundations of the ancient 
superstition, the mind was left in doubt and bewilderment ; 
for the votaries of what was called wisdom entertained widely 
different views even of its elementary principles. The Epi- 
cureans, who formed a large section of the intellectual aris- 
tocracy, denied the doctrine of Providence, and pronounced 
pleasure to be the ultimate end of man ; the Academics en- 
couraged a spirit of disputatious scepticism ; and the Stoics, 
who taught that the practice of, what they vaguely designated, 
virtue, involves its own reward, discarded the idea of a future 
retribution. Plato had still a goodly number of disciples ; and 
though his doctrines, containing not a few elements of sub- 
limity and beauty, exercised a better influence, they consti- 
tuted a most unsatisfactory system of cold and barren mysti- 
cism. The ancient philosophers delivered many excellent 
moral precepts ; but, as they wanted the light of revelation, 
their arguments in support of duty were essentially defective, 
and the lessons which they taught had often very little influ- 
ence either on themselves or others. 1 Their own conduct 
seldom marked them out as greatly superior to those around 
them, so that neither their instructions nor their example con- 
tributed efficiently to elevate the character of their generation. 
Though the philosophers fostered a spirit of inquiry, yet, as 
they made little progress in the discovery of truth, they were 
not qualified to act with the skill and energy of enlightened 
reformers ; and, whatever may have been the amount of their 
convictions, they made no open and resolute attack on the 
popular mythology. A very superficial examination was, in- 
deed, enough to shake the credit of the heathen worship. 
The reflecting subjects of the Roman Empire might have re- 
marked the very awkward contrast between the multiplicity 
of their deities and the unity of their political government. 

1 " We despise," says an early Christian writer, " the supercilious looks 
of philosophers, whom we have known to be the corrupters of innocence, 
adulterers, and tyrants, and eloquent declaimers against vices of which they 
themselves are guilty." — Octavzus of Minucius Felix, 



6 THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT 

It was the common belief that every nation had its own divine 
guardians, and that the religious rites of one country could be 
fully acknowledged without impugning the claims of those of 
another ; but still a thinking pagan might have been staggered 
by the consideration that a human being had apparently more 
extensive authority than some of his celestial overseers, and 
that the jurisdiction of the Roman emperor was established 
over a more ample territory than that which was assigned to 
many of the immortal gods. 

But the multitude of its divinities was by no means the 
most offensive feature of heathenism. The gods of antiquity, 
particularly those of Greece, were of infamous character. 
Whilst they were represented by their votaries as excelling in 
beauty and activity, strength and intelligence, they were also 
described as envious and gluttonous, base, lustful, and revenge- 
ful. Jupiter, the king of the gods, was deceitful and licen- 
tious ; Juno, the queen of heaven, was cruel and tyrannical. 
What could be expected from those who honored such deities? 
Some of the wiser heathens, such as Plato, 1 condemned their 
mythology as immoral — for the conduct of one or other of the 
gods might have been quoted in vindication of every species 
of transgression ; and had the Gentiles but followed the ex- 
ample of their own heavenly hierarchy, they could have found 
apologies for perpetrating the very worst forms of fraud, op- 
pression, or profligacy. 2 

At the time of the birth of our Lord even the Jews had 
sunk into a state of the grossest degeneracy. They were di- 
vided into sects, two of which, the Pharisees and the Saddu- 
cees, are frequently mentioned in the New Testament. The 
Pharisees were the leading denomination, being by far the 
most numerous and powerful. By adding to the written law 

1 " De Republ.," ii. 

2 In the " Octavius of Minucius Felix " (c. 25), we meet with the follow- 
ing startling challenge : " Where are there more bargains for debauchery 
made, more assignations concerted, or more adultery devised than by the 
priests amidst the altars and shrines of the gods ? " This, of course, refers 
to the state of things in the third century, but there is no reason to believe 
that it was now much better. Tertullian speaks in the same manner 
("Apol.,'' c. 15). See also "Juvenal," sat. vi. 488, and ix. 23. 



THE TIME OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 7 

a mass of absurd or frivolous traditions, which, as they fool- 
ishly alleged, were handed down from Moses, they subverted 
the authority of the sacred record ; and changed the religion 
of the patriarchs and prophets into a wearisome parade of 
superstitious observances. The Sadducees were compara- 
tively few, but as a large proportion of them were persons of 
rank and wealth, they possessed considerable influence. It 
has been said that they admitted the divine authority only of 
the Pentateuch, 1 and though they may not have openly de- 
nied the claims of all the other books of the Old Testament, 
it is certain that they discarded the doctrine of the immortal- 
ity of the soul, 2 and that they were disposed to self-indulgence 
and scepticism. Another still smaller Jewish sect, that of the 
Essenes, is not directly mentioned in the New Testament. 
The members of this community resided chiefly in the neigh- 
borhood of the Dead Sea ; and as our Lord seldom visited 
that quarter of the country during the course of His public 
ministry, He rarely or never came in contact with these relig- 
ionists. Some of them were married, but the greater number 
lived in celibacy, and spent much of their time in contempla- 
tion. They are said to have had a common purse, and their 
course of life closely resembled that of the monks of after- 
times. 

Though the Jews, as a nation, were sunk in sensuality or 
superstition, some among them, such as Simeon and Anna, 
noticed in the Gospel of Luke, 3 were taught of God, and ex- 
hibited a spirit of vital piety. " The law of the Lord is per- 
fect, converting the soul," and as the books of the Old Testa- 
ment were committed to the keeping of the posterity of 
Abraham, " hidden ones " here and there discovered the way 
to heaven by the perusal of these " lively oracles." The Jews 
were faithful conservators of the inspired volume, as Christ 
uniformly takes for granted the accuracy of their " Script- 
ures." 4 They did not admit into their canon the writings 

1 " Origen. Contra Celsum," lib. i.j c. 49. 

2 Matt. xxii. 23. 3 Luke ii. 25, 36. 
* See Matt. v. 18 ; John v. 39, and x. 35. 



8 THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT 

known as the Apocrypha? Nearly three hundred years before 
the appearance of our Lord, the Old Testament had been 
translated into the Greek language, and thus, at this period, the 
educated portion of the population of the Roman Empire had 
all an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the religion 
of the chosen people. The Jews were scattered over the 
earth, and as they erected synagogues in the»cities where they 
settled, the Gentile world had ample means of information in 
reference to their faith and worship. 

Whilst the dispersion of the Jews disseminated a knowledge 
of their religion, it suggested the approaching dissolution of 
the Mosaic economy — as it was apparent that their present 
circumstances absolutely required another ritual. It was not 
to be expected that individuals dwelling in distant countries 
could meet three times in the year at Jerusalem to celebrate 
the great festivals. The Israelites themselves had- a presenti- 
ment of coming changes, and anxiously awaited the appear- 
ance of a Messiah. They were actuated by an extraordinary 
zeal for proselytism, 2 and though their scrupulous adherence 
to a stern code of ceremonies often exposed them to much 
obloquy, they succeeded, notwithstanding, in making many 
converts in most of the places where they resided. 3 A prom- 
inent article of their creed was adopted in a quarter where 

1 See Josephus against Apion, i., § 8. Origen says that the Hebrews had 
twenty-two sacred books corresponding to the number of letters in their 
alphabet. (Opera, ii. 528.) Jerome states that they reckoned in the fol- 
lowing manner : they considered the Twelve Minor Prophets only one book ; 
First and Second Samuel, one book ; First and Second Kings, one book ; 
First and Second Chronicles, one book ; Ezra and Nehemiah, one book ; 
Jeremiah and Lamentations, one book ; the Pentateuch, rive books ; Judges 
and Ruth, one book ; thus with the other ten books of Joshua, Esther, Job, 
Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, mak- 
ing up twenty-two. The most learned Roman Catholic writers admit that 
what are called the apocryphal books were never acknowledged by the Jew- 
ish Church. See, for example, Dupin's " History of Ecclesiastical Writers," 
Preliminary Dissertation, section ii. See also Father Simon's " Critical 
History of the Old Testament," book i., chap. viii. 

2 Matt, xxiii. 15. 

* Many proofs of this occur in the Acts. See Acts x. 2, xiii. 43, xvi. 14, 
xvii. 4. 



THE TIME OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 9 

their theology otherwise found no favor, for the Unity of the 
Great First Cause was distinctly acknowledged in the schools 
of the philosophers. 1 

From the preceding statements we see the peculiar signifi- 
cance of the announcement that God sent forth His Son into 
the world " when the fulness of the time was come." 2 Various 
predictions 3 pointed out this age as the period of the Mes- 
siah's Advent ; and Gentiles, as well as Jews, had by some 
means caught up the expectation that an extraordinary per- 
sonage was about to present himself on the theatre of human 
existence. 4 Providence had obviously prepared the way for 
the labors of a religious reformer. The civil wars which had 
convulsed the State were almost forgotten, and though the 
hostile movements of the Germans and other barbarous tribes 
on the confines of the empire occasionally created uneasiness 
or alarm, the public mind was generally unoccupied by any 
great topic of absorbing interest. In the populous cities the 
multitude languished for excitement ; and sought to dissipate 
time in the forum, the circus, or the amphitheatre. At such 
a crisis the heralds of the most gracious message that ever 
greeted the ears of men might hope for a patient hearing. 
Even the consolidation of so many nations under one govern- 
ment tended to " the furtherance of the Gospel "; for the 
gigantic roads, which radiated from Rome to the distant re- 
gions of the east and of the west, facilitated intercourse ; and 
the messengers of the Prince of Peace travelled from country 
to country without suspicion and without passports. Well 
might the Son of God be called " The desire of all nations." 5 
Though the wisest of the pagan sages could not have described 
the renovation which the human family required, and though, 
when the Redeemer actually appeared, He was despised and 

1 See Cudworth's "Intellectual System," i. 318, etc. Edition, London, 
1845. Warburton has adduced evidence to prove that this doctrine was 
imparted to the initiated in the heathen mysteries. " Divine Legation of 
Moses," i. 224. Edit., London, 1837. 

2 Gal. iv. 4. 3 Gen. xlix. 10 ; Dan. ix. 25 ; Haggai ii. 6, 7. 
4 Virgil, Ec. iv. Suetonius, Octavius, 94. Tacitus, Histor. v. 13. 
6 Haggai ii. 7. 



10 THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 

rejected of men, there was, withal, a widespread conviction 
that a Saviour was required, and there was a longing for de- 
liverance from the evils which oppressed society. The ancient 
superstitions were rapidly losing their hold on the affection 
and confidence of the people, and whilst the light of philosophy 
was sufficient to discover the absurdities of the prevailing 
polytheism, it failed to reveal any more excellent way of pu- 
rity and comfort. The ordinances of Judaism, " waxing old " 
and " ready to vanish away," were types still unfulfilled ; and 
though they pointed out the path to glory, they required an 
interpreter to expound their import. This Great Teacher now 
appeared. He was born in very humble circumstances, and 
yet He was the heir of an empire beyond comparison more 
illustrious than that of the Caesars. " There was given him 
dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, 
and languages should serve him ; his dominion is an everlast- 
ing dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom 
that which shall not be destroyed." ! 

1 Dan. vii. 14. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

Nearly three years before the commencement of our era, 1 
Jesus Christ was born. The Holy Child was introduced into 
the world under circumstances extremely humiliating. A de- 
cree had gone forth from Caesar Augustus that all the Roman 
Empire should be taxed, and the Jews, as a conquered people, 
were obliged to submit to an arrangement which proclaimed 
their national degradation. The reputed parents of Jesus re- 
sided at Nazareth, a town of Galilee ; but, as they were " of 
the house and lineage of David," they were obliged to repair 
to Bethlehem, a village about six miles south of Jerusalem, to 
be entered in their proper place in the imperial registry. 
"And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were ac- 
complished that Mary should be delivered, and she brought 
forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, 
and laid him in a manger ; because there was no room for 
them in the inn." a 

This child of poverty and of a despised race, born in the 
stable of the lodging-house of an insignificant town belonging 
to a conquered province, did not enter upon life surrounded 
by associations which betokened a career of earthly pros- 
perity. But intimations were not wanting that the son of 
Mary was regarded with the deepest interest by the inhabi- 
tants of heaven. An angel had announced the conception of 
the individual who was the herald of His ministry; 3 and 

1 See Supplementary Note at the end of this chapter on the year of 
Christ's Birth. 

2 Luke ii. 6, 7. s Luke i. n, 19. 

(11) 



12 THE WISE MEN FROM THE EAST. 

another angel had given notice of the incarnation of this Great 
Deliverer. 1 When He was born, the angel of the Lord com- 
municated the tidings to shepherds in the plains of Bethle- 
hem ; " and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of 
the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in 
the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men." 2 In- 
animate nature called attention to the advent of the illustrious 
babe, for a wonderful star made known to wise men from the 
east the incarnation of the King of Israel ; and when they 
came to Jerusalem " the star, which they saw in the east, went 
before them, till it came and stood over where the young child 
was." ' The history of these eastern sages can not now be ex- 
plored, and we know not on what grounds they regarded the 
star as the sign of the Messiah ; but they rightly interpreted 
the appearance, and the narrative warrants us to infer that 
they acted under the guidance of divine illumination. As 
they were " warned of God in a dream " * to return to their 
own country another way, it may be that they were originally 
directed by some similar communication to undertake the 
journey. If, as is probable, they did not belong to the stock 
of Abraham, their visit to the babe at Bethlehem was the har- 
binger of the union of Jews and Gentiles under the new econ- 
omy. The presence of these Orientals in Jerusalem attracted 
the notice of the watchful and jealous tyrant who then oc- 
cupied the throne of Judea. Their story filled him with alarm, 
and his subjects anticipated some tremendous outbreak of his 
suspicious and savage temper. " When Herod the king had 
heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with 
him." 5 His rage soon vented itself in a terrible explosion. 
Having ascertained from the chief priests and scribes of the 

1 Luke i. 26, 31. 2 Luke ii. 13, 14. 3 Matt. ii. 9. 4 Matt. ii. 12. 

5 Matt. ii. 3. The evangelist does not positively assert that the wise 
men met Herod at Jerusalem. On their arrival in the holy city he was 
probably at Jericho — distant about a day's journey — for Josephus states that 
he died there. (" Antiq." xvii. 6, § 5, and 8, §1.) We may infer, therefore, 
that he '* heard " of the strangers, on his sick-bed, and " privily called " 
them to Jericho. The chief priests and scribes were, perhaps, summoned 
to attend him at the same place. 



THE HOLY CHILD. 1 3 

people where Christ was to be born, he " sent forth and slew 
all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts 
thereof, from two years old and under." l 

Joseph and Mary, in accordance with a message from heaven, 
had meanwhile fled toward the border of Egypt, and thus the 
holy infant escaped this carnage. The wise men, on the occa- 
sion of their visit, had " opened their treasures," and had 
" presented unto Him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and 
myrrh," a so that the poor travellers had providentially ob- 
tained means for defraying the expenses of their journey. The 
slaughter of the babes of Bethlehem was one of the last acts 
of the bloody reign of Herod ; and on his demise, the exiles 
were divinely instructed to return, and the child was presented 
in the temple. This ceremony evoked new testimonies to 
His high mission. On His appearance in His Father's house, 
the aged Simeon, moved by the Spirit from on high, embraced 
Him as the promised Shiloh ; and Anna, the prophetess, like- 
wise gave thanks to God, and " spake of Him to all them that 
looked for redemption in Jerusalem." 3 Thus, whilst the Old 
Testament predictions pointed to Jesus as the Christ, living 

1 Matt. ii. 16. The estimates formed at a subsequent period of the num- 
ber of infants in the village of Bethlehem and its precincts betray a strange 
ignorance of statistics. " The Greek Church canonized the 14,000 inno- 
cents," observes the Dean of St. Paul's, "and another notion, founded on 
a misrepresentation of Revelation (xiv. 3), swelled the number to 144,000. 
The former, at least, was the common belief of our church, though even in 
our liturgy the latter has in some degree been sanctio7ied by retaining the 
chapter of Revelation as the epistle for the day. Even later, Jeremy Tay- 
lor, in his ' Life of Christ,' admits the 14,000 without scruple, or rather 
without thought." — Milman's History of Christianity, i. p. 113, note. 

2 Matt. ii. 11. 

8 Luke ii. 38. It is a curious fact that in the year 751 of the city of 
Rome, the year of the Birth of Christ according to the chronology adopted 
in this volume, the passover was not celebrated as usual in Judea. The 
disturbances which occurred on the death of Herod had become so serious 
on the arrival of the pascal day, that Archelaus was obliged to disperse the 
people by force of arms in the very midst of the sacrifices. So soon did 
Christ begin to cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. See Gres- 
well's " Dissertations," i. pp. 393, 394, note. 



14 THE YOUTH OF JESUS. 

prophets appeared to interpret these sacred oracles, and to 
bear witness to the claims of the new-born Saviour. 

Though the Son of Mary was beyond all comparison the 
most extraordinary personage that ever appeared on earth, it 
is remarkable that the sacred writers enter into scarcely any 
details respecting the history of His infancy, His youth, or 
His early manhood. They tell us that " the child grew and 
waxed strong in spirit," ' and that He " increased in wisdom 
and stature, and in favor with God and man"; 2 but they do 
not minutely trace the progress of His mental development, 
neither do they gratify any feeling of mere curiosity by giv- 
ing us His infantile biography. In what is omitted by the 
penmen of the New Testament, as well as in what is written, 
we must acknowledge the guidance of inspiration ; and though 
we would have perused with avidity a description of the pur- 
suits of Jesus when a child, such a record has not been deemed 
necessary for the illustration of the work of redemption. He 
spent about thirty years on earth almost unnoticed and un- 
known ; and He was meanwhile trained to the occupation of 
a carpenter. 3 The obscurity of His early career was one part 
of His humiliation. But the circumstances in which He was 
placed enabled Him to exhibit more clearly the divinity of 
His origin. He did not receive a liberal education, so that 
when He came forward as a public teacher " the Jews mar- 
velled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never 
learned?"* When He was only twelve years old, He was 
" found in the temple sitting in the midst of the doctors, both 
hearing them, and asking them questions ; and all that heard 
him were astonished at his understanding and answers." 5 
As He grew up, He was distinguished by His diligent attend- 
ance in the house of God ; and He was in the habit of officiat- 
ing at public worship by assisting in the reading of the law 
and the prophets ; for, we are told that, shortly after the com- 
mencement of His ministry, " He came to Nazarath, where he 
had been brought up, and, as his custom was, he went into 
the synagogue on the Sabbath-day, and stood up for to read" 6 

1 Luke ii. 40. 2 Luke ii. 52. 3 Mark vi. 3. 

4 John vii. 15. 6 Luke ii. 46, 47. 6 Luke iv. 16. 



JOHN THE BAPTIST. 1 5 

When He was thirty years of age, and immediately before 
His public appearance as a prophet, our Lord was baptized of 
John in Jordan. 1 The Baptist did not preach longer than 
six months ; a but during his imprisonment of considerably 
upwards of a year, he still contributed to prepare the way of 
Christ ; for, in the fortress of Machaerus in which he was in- 
carcerated, 3 he was not kept in utter ignorance of passing 
occurrences ; and when permitted to hold intercourse with his 
friends, he doubtless directed their attention to the proceed- 
ings of the Great Prophet. The claims of John, as a teacher 
sent from God, were extensively acknowledged, and, therefore, 
his recognition of our Lord as the promised Messiah, must 
have impressed the minds of the Israelites. The miracles of 
our Saviour corroborated the testimony of His forerunner, 
and created a deep sensation. He healed " all manner of sick- 
ness, and all manner of disease." 4 It was, consequently, not 
strange that " his fame went throughout all Syria," and that 
" there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, 
and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and 
from beyond Jordan." 6 

Even when the Most High reveals Himself there is some- 
thing mysterious in the manifestation, so that as we ac- 
knowledge the tokens of His presence, we may well exclaim, 
" Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, 
the Saviour." 6 When He displayed His glory in the temple 
of old, He filled it with thick darkness ; 7 when He delivered 
the sure word of prophecy, He employed strange and misty 

1 Luke iii. 21-23. "It became Him, being in the likeness of sinful flesh, 
to go through these appointed rites and purifications which belonged to 
that flesh. There is no more strangeness in His having been baptized by 
John, than in His keeping the Passover. The one rite, as the other, be- 
longed to sinners, and among the transgressors He was numbered." — Al- 
FORD, Greek Testament, note on Matt. iii. 13-17. 

2 See Greswell's " Dissertations upon an Harmony of the Gospels," vol. i. 
pp. 362, 363. John probably commenced his ministry about the Feast of 
Tabernacles, A.D. 27. 

3 See Josephus, " Antiq." xviii. 5, § 2. 4 Matt. iv. 23. 

6 Matt. iv. 24, 25. 6 Isaiah xlv. 15. ' 1 Kings viii. 10-12. 



i6 Christ's footsteps not known. 

language ; when He announced the Gospel itself, He uttered 
some things hard to be understood. It might have been said 
of the Son of God, when He appeared on earth, that His 
" footsteps were not known." In early life He does not seem 
to have arrested the attention of His own townsmen ; and 
when He came forward to assert His claims as the Messiah, 
He- did not overawe or dazzle His countrymen by any sus- 
tained demonstration of tremendous power or of overwhelm- 
ing splendor. To-day the multitude beheld His miracles 
with wonder, but to-morrow they could not tell where to 
meet with Him ; ' ever and anon He appeared and disap- 
peared ; and occasionally His own disciples found it difficult 
to discover the place of His retirement. When He arrived in 
a district, thousands often hastily gathered round Him ; a 
but He never encouraged the attendance of vast assemblages 
by giving general notice that, in a specified place and on an ap- 
pointed day, He would deliver a public address, or perform a 
new and unprecedented miracle. We here see the wisdom 
of Him who " doeth all things well." Whilst the secrecy with 
which He conducted His movements baffled any premature 
attempts on the part of His enemies to effect His capture or 
condemnation, it also checked that intense popular excite- 
ment which a ministry so extraordinary awakened. 

Four inspired writers have given separate accounts of the 
life of Christ — all repeat many of His wonderful sayings — all 
dwell with marked minuteness on the circumstances of His 
death — and all attest the fact of His resurrection. Each 
mentions some things which the others have omitted ; and 
each apparently observes the order of time in the details of 
his narrative. But when we combine and arrange their vari- 
ous statements, so as to form the whole into one regular and 
comprehensive testimony, we discover that there are not a 
few periods of His life still left destitute of incidents; and 
that there is no reference whatever to topics which we should 
expect to find particularly noticed in the biography of so 

1 John v. 13, vi. 15, viii. 59, xii. 36 ; Mark 1. 45, vii. 24. 

2 Mark ii. 1, 2 ; Matt. xiv. 13, 14, 21, xv. 32, 38, 39. 



HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 17 

great a personage. After His appearance as a public teacher, 
He not only made sudden transitions from place to place, but 
otherwise often courted the shade ; and, instead of unfolding 
the circumstances of His private history, the evangelists dwell 
chiefly on His Discourses and His Miracles. During His 
ministry, Capernaum was His headquarters ; x but we can not 
tell with whom He lodged ; nor whether the twelve sojourned 
under the same roof with Him ; nor how much time He spent 
in it at any particular period. We can not point out the pre- 
cise route which He pursued on any occasion when itinerating, 
throughout Galilee or Judea; neither are we sure that He al- 
ways journeyed on foot, or that He adhered to a uniform mode 
of travelling. It is most singular that the inspired writers 
never throw out a hint on which an artist could seize as the 
groundwork of a painting of Jesus. As if to teach us more 
emphatically that we are to beware of a sensuous superstition, 
and that we should direct our thoughts to the spiritual feat- 
ures of His character, the New Testament never mentions 
either the color of His hair, or the height of His stature, or 
the cast of His countenance. How wonderful that even " the 
beloved disciple," who was permitted to lean on the bosom of 
the Son of man, and who had seen Him in the most trying 
circumstances of His earthly history, never speaks of the tones 
of His voice, or of the expression of His eye, or of any striking 
peculiarity pertaining to His personal appearance ! The si- 
lence of all the evangelists respecting matters of which at 
least some of them must have retained a very vivid remem- 
brance, and of which ordinary biographers would not have 
failed to preserve a record, supplies an indirect and yet a most 
powerful proof of the Divine origin of the Gospels. 

1 Matt. iv. 13. Hence it is said to have been "exalted unto heaven'' in 
the way of privilege. Matt. xi. 23; Luke x. 15. It was the residence as 
well of Peter and Andrew (Matt. xvii. 24), as of James, John (Mark i. 21, 
29), and Matthew (Mark ii.' 1, 14, 15), and there also dwelt the nobleman 
whose son was healed by our Lord (John iv. 46). It was on the borders 
of the sea of Galilee, so that by crossing the water He could at once reach 
the territory of another potentate, and withdraw Himself from the multi- 
tudes drawn together by the fame of His miracles. See Milman's " His- 
tory of Christianity," i. 188. 



1 8 THE TEACHING OF CHRIST. 

But whilst the sacred writers enter so sparingly into per- 
sonal details, they leave no doubt as to the perfect integrity 
which marked every part of our Lord's proceedings. He was 
born in a degenerate age, and brought up in a city of Galilee 
so infamous that no good thing was expected to proceed from 
it ; ' and yet, like a ray of purest light shining into some den 
of uncleanness, He contracted no defilement from the scenes 
of pollution which He was obliged to witness. Even in boy- 
hood, He uniformly acted with supreme discretion ; and 
though His enemies from time to time gave vent to their 
malignity in various accusations, they never sought to cast so 
much as a solitary stain upon His youthful reputation. The 
most malicious of the Jews failed to fasten on Him in after- 
life any charge of immorality. Among those constantly ad- 
mitted to His familiar intercourse, a traitor was found ; and 
had Judas been able to detect anything in His private deport- 
ment inconsistent with His public profession, he would doubt- 
less have proclaimed it as an apology for his perfidy ; but the 
keen eye of that close observer could not discover a single 
blemish in the character of his Master ; and when, prompted 
by covetousness, he betrayed Him to the chief priests, the 
thought of having been accessory to the death of one so kind 
and so holy, continued to torment him, until it drove him to 
despair and to self-destruction. 

The doctrine inculcated by our Lord commended itself by 
the light of its own evidence. It was nothing more than a 
lucid and comprehensive exposition of the theology of the 
Old Testament ; and yet it presented such a new view of the 
faith of patriarchs and prophets, that it had all the freshness 
and interest of an original revelation. It discovered a most 
intimate acquaintance with the mental constitution of man — 
it appealed with mighty power to conscience — and it was felt 
to be exactly adapted to the moral state and spiritual wants 
of the human family. The disciples of Jesus did not require 
to be told that He had "the key of knowledge," for they 
were delighted and edified as " He opened " to them the 

1 John i. 46. 



THE TEACHING OF CHRIST. 1 9 

Scriptures. 1 He taught the multitude " as one having au- 
thority"; 2 and they were "astonished at His doctrine/* 
The discourses of the scribes, their most learned instructors, 
were meagre and vapid — they were not calculated to enlarge 
the mind or to move the affections — they consisted frequently 
of doubtful disputations relating to "the ceremonials of their 
worship — and the very air with which they were delivered 
betrayed the insignificance of the topics of discussion. But 
Jesus spake with a dignity which commanded respect, and 
with the seriousness of a great Teacher delivering to perish- 
ing sinners the lessons of eternal truth. 

There was something singularly beautiful and attractive, as 
well as majestic and impressive, in the teaching of our Lord. 
The Sermon on the Mount is a most pleasing specimen of His 
method of conveying instruction. Whilst He gives utterance 
to sentiments of exalted wisdom, He employs language so 
simple, and imagery so chaste and natural, that even a child 
is interested and delighted. He did not speak in parables for 
a considerable time after He entered on His ministry. 3 By 
these symbolical discourses He blinded the eyes of His ene- 
mies, and furnished materials for profitable meditation to His 
genuine disciples. The parables, like the light of prophecy, 
are, to this very day, a beacon to the Church, and a stumbling- 
block to unbelievers. 

The claim of Jesus to be the Christ was decisively, estab- 
lished by the Divine power which He manifested. It had 
been foretold that certain extraordinary recoveries from dis- 
ease and infirmity should be witnessed in the days of the 
Messiah ; and these predictions were literally fulfilled. The 
eyes of the blind were opened, and the ears of the deaf un- 
stopped ; the lame man leaped as an hart, and the tongue of 
the dumb sang. 4 Not a few of the cures of our Saviour were 

1 Luke xxiv. 32. a Matt. vii. 29. 

3 According to Mr. Greswell, our Lord adopted this method of teaching 
about eighteen months after the commencement of His ministry, and the 
Parable of the Sower was the first delivered. " Exposition of the Parable," 
vol. i., p. 2. 

4 Isa. xxxv. 5, 6. 



20 THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST. 

wrought on individuals to whom He was personally unknown ; x 
and many of His works of wonder were performed in the pres- 
ence of friends and foes. 3 Whilst His miracles exceeded in 
number all those recorded in the Old Testament, they were 
still more remarkable for their variety and excellence. By 
His touch, or His word, He healed the most inveterate mala- 
dies ; He fed the multitude by thousands out of a store of pro- 
visions which a little boy could carry ; 3 He walked upon the 
waves of the sea, when it was agitated by a tempest; 4 He 
made the storm a calm, so that when the wind ceased to blow, 
the surface of the deep reposed, at the same moment, in glassy 
smoothness ; 5 He cast out devils ; and He restored life to the 
dead. Well might the Pharisees be perplexed by the inquiry, 
"How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?" 6 It 
is quite possible that false prophets, by the help of Satan, 
may accomplish feats fitted to excite astonishment; and yet, 
in such cases, the agents of the Wicked One will exhibit some 
symptoms of his spirit and character. But nothing diabolical, 
or of an evil tendency, appeared in the miracles of our Lord. 
With the two exceptions of the cursing of the barren fig-tree, 7 
and the permitting the devils to enter into the swine, 8 all His 
displays of power were indicative of His goodness and His 
mercy. No other than a true prophet could have so often 
controlled the course of nature, in the production of results of 
such utility, benignity, and grandeur. 

The miracles of Christ illustrated, as well as confirmed, His 
doctrines. When, for instance, He converted the water into 
wine at the marriage in Cana of Galilee, 9 He taught, not only 
that He approved of wedlock, but also that, within proper 
limits, we should exercise a generous hospitality. In some 
cases He required faith in those whom He vouchsafed to 

1 See John v. 13, ix. 1, 6, 25, 36. 2 Mark ii. 6, 7, 10, 11, iii. 5, 22. 

I John vi. 9. * Matt. xiv. 24, 25. 

6 Mark iv. 39 ; Matt. viii. 26, 27. 6 John ix. 16. 

7 Matt. xxi. 19. Neander has shown that this was a typical action point- 
ing to the rejection of the Jews. See his " Life of Jesus Christ " by M'Clin- 
tock and Blumenthal, p. 357. 

9 Mark v. 13. 9 John ii. 9. 



CHRIST A WONDER TO MANY. 21 

cure, 1 thus distinctly suggesting the way of a sinner's salva- 
tion. Many of His miracles were obviously of a typical char- 
acter. When He acted as the physician of the body, He indi- 
rectly gave evidence of His efficiency as the physician of the 
soul ; when He restored sight to the blind, He indicated that 
He can turn men from darkness' to light ; when He raised the 
dead, He virtually demonstrated His ability to quicken the 
dead in trespasses and sins. Those who witnessed these exhi- 
bitions of His power were prepared to listen with the deepest 
interest to His words when He declared, " I am the light of 
the world ; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, 
but shall have the light of life." 2 

Though our Lord's conduct, as a public teacher, fully sus- 
tained His claims as the Messiah, it was a complete enigma 
to all classes of politicians. He did not seek to obtain power 
by courting the favor of the great, neither did He attempt to 
gain popularity by flattering the prejudices of the multitude. 
He wounded the national pride by hinting at the destruction 
of the temple ; He gave much offence by holding intercourse 
with the odious publicans ; and with many, He forfeited all 
credit, as a patriot, by refusing to affirm the unlawfulness of 
paying tribute to the Roman emperor. The greatest human 
characters have been occasionally swayed by personal predilec- 
tions or antipathies, but, in the life of Christ, we can discover 
no memorial of infirmity. Like a sage among children, He 
did not permit Himself to be influenced by the petty parti- 
alities, whims, or superstitions of His countrymen. He incul- 
cated a theological system for which He could not expect the 
support of any of the existing classes of religionists. He dif- 
fered from the Essenes, as He did not adopt their ascetic 
habits ; He displeased the Sadducees, by asserting the doc- 
trine of the resurrection ; He provoked the Pharisees, by 
declaring that they worshipped God in vain, teaching for doc- 
trines the commandments of men ; and He incurred the hos- 
tility of the whole tribe of Jewish zealots, by maintaining His 
right to supersede the arrangements of the Mosaic economy. 

1 Matt. ix. 28, 29; Mark vi. 5, ix. 23, 24. 2 John viii. 12. 



22 THE LENGTH OF CHRIST'S MINISTRY. 

By pursuing this independent course He vindicated His title 
to the character of a Divine lawgiver, but at the same time 
He forfeited a vast amount of sympathy and aid on which He 
might otherwise have calculated. 

There has been considerable diversity of opinion regarding 
the length of our Saviour's ministry. 1 We could approximate 
very closely to a correct estimate could we tell the number of 
passovers from its commencement to its close, but this point can 
not be determined with absolute certainty. Four, apparently, 
are mentioned 2 by the evangelist John; and if, as is probable, 
they amounted to no more, our Lord's career, as a public teacher, 
was of about three years' duration. 3 The greater part of this 
period was spent in Galilee ; and the sacred writers intimate that 
He made several circuits, as a missionary, among the cities and 
villages of that populous district. 4 Matthew, Mark, and Luke 
dwell chiefly upon this portion of His history. Toward the 
termination of His course, Judea was the principal scene of 
His ministrations. Jerusalem was the centre of Jewish power 
and prejudice, and He had hitherto chiefly labored in remote 
districts of the land, where He was comparatively free from 
the annoyance of the Scribes and Pharisees; but, as His end 
approached, He acted with greater publicity, and often taught 
openly in the very courts of the temple. John supplements 
the narratives of the other evangelists by recording our Lord's 
proceedings in Judea. 

A few members of the Sanhedrim, such as Nicodemus, 6 

1 Several of the early fathers imagined that it continued only a year. 
Some of them, such as Clemens Alexandrinus, drew this conclusion from 
Isaiah Ixi. i, " To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." See Kaye's 
" Clement of Alexandria," p. 347. 

2 John ii. 13, v. 1, vi. 4, xii. 1. Eusebius argues from the number of high- 
priests that our Lord's ministry did not embrace four entire years. " Ecc. 
Hist." i. c. x. 

3 He lived, therefore, about thirty-three years. According to Malte Brun 
(" Universal Geography," book xxii.), " the mean duration of human life is 
between thirty and forty years," and, in the same chapter, he computes it 
at thirty-three years. It would thus appear that, at the time of His death, 
our Lord was, in point of age, a fitting representative of the species. 

4 Luke iv. 44, viii. 1 ; Matt. ix. 35. & John iii. 1, 2. 



THE CRUCIFIXION. 23 

believed Jesus to be " a teacher come from God," but by far 
the majority regarded Him with extreme aversion. They 
could not imagine that the son of a carpenter was to be the 
Saviour of their country, for they expected the Messiah to 
appear surrounded with all the splendor of secular magnifi- 
cence. They were hypocritical and selfish ; they had been 
repeatedly rebuked by Christ for their impiety ; and, as they 
marked His increasing favor with the multitude, their envy 
and indignation beame ungovernable. They accordingly seized 
Him at the time of the Passover, and, on the charge that He 
said He was the Son of God, He was condemned as a blas- 
phemer. 1 He suffered crucifixion — an ignominious form of 
capital punishment from which the laws of the empire ex- 
empted every Roman citizen — and, to add to His disgrace, 
He was put to death between two thieves. 1 But even Pon- 
tius Pilate, then Procurator of Judea, and who, in that capacity, 
endorsed the sentence, was constrained to acknowledge that 
He was a "just person" in whom He could find " no fault."* 
Pilate was a truckling time-server, and he acquiesced in the 
decision, simply because he was afraid to exasperate the Jews 
by rescuing from their grasp an innocent man whom they per- 
secuted with unrelenting hatred. 4 

The death of Christ, of which all the evangelists treat so 
particularly, is the most awful and the most momentous event 
in the history of the world. He, no doubt, fell a victim to 
the malice of the rulers of the Jews; but He was delivered 
into their hands " by the determinate counsel and foreknowl- 
edge of God "; 5 and, if we discard the idea that He was of- 
fered up as a vicarious sacrifice, it is impossible to give any- 
thing like a satisfactory account of what occurred in Geth- 
semane and at Calvary. The amount of physical suffering He 
sustained from man did not exceed that endured by either of 
the malefactors with whom He was associated ; and such was 
His magnanimity and fortitude, that, had He been an ordinary 
martyr, the prospect of crucifixion would not have been suffi- 

1 Matt. xxvi. 63-66. 2 Matt, xxvii. 38. 

8 Matt, xxvii. 24; John xviii. 38. 4 Mark xv. 10, 15. 6 Acts ii. 23. 



24 THE CRUCIFIXION. 

cient to make Him " exceeding sorrowful " and " sore amazed." l 
His holy soul was wrung with no common agony when 
u His sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down 
to the ground," 2 and when He cried out, " My God, my God, 
why hast thou forsaken me?" 3 In that hour of "the power 
of darkness " He was " smitten of God and afflicted," and 
there was never sorrow like unto His sorrow, for upon Him 
were laid " the iniquities of us all." 

The incidents which accompanied the death of Jesus were 
even more impressive than those which signalized His birth. 
When He was in the garden of Gethsemane, there appeared 
unto Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him. 4 Dur- 
ing the three concluding hours of His intense anguish on the 
cross, there was darkness over all the land, 6 as if nature 
mourned along with the illustrious sufferer. When He 
bowed His head on Calvary and gave up the ghost, the event 
was marked by notifications such as never announced the de- 
mise of any of this world's great potentates, for " the veil of 
the temple was rent in twain," and the rocks were cleft asun- 
der, and the graves were opened, and the earth trembled. 8 
"The centurion and they that were with him" in attendance 
at the execution were Gentiles ; and, though they had heard 
that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah of the Jews, they very 
imperfectly understood what this implied ; but they were 
forthwith overwhelmed with the conviction that He, whose 
death they had just witnessed, had given a true account of 
His mission and His dignity; for, when they " saw the earth- 
quake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, 
saying, Truly, this was the Son of God." 7 

The body of our Lord was committed to the grave on the 
evening of Friday, and, early on the morning of the following 
Sunday, He issued from the tomb. An ordinary individual 
has no control over the duration of his existence, but Jesus 
demonstrated that He had power to lay down His life, and 

1 Matt. xxvi. 38 ; Mark xiv. 33. 2 Luke xxii. 44. s Matt, xxvii. 46. 

* Luke xxii. 43. * Luke xxiii. 44 ; Mark xv. 33. 

• Matt, xxvii. 51, 52. ' Matt, xxvii. 54. 



THE RESURRECTION. 25 

that He had power to take it again. 1 Had He been a de- 
ceiver, His delusions would have terminated with His death ; 
so that His resurrection was His crowning miracle, or rather, 
the affixing of the broad seal of Heaven to the truth of His 
mission as the Messiah. It was, besides, the fulfilment of an 
ancient prophecy; 2 a proof of His foreknowledge; 3 and a 
pledge of the resurrection of His disciples. 4 Hence, in the 
New Testament, 5 it is so often mentioned with marked 
emphasis. 

There is no fact connected with the life of Christ better at- 
tested than His resurrection. He was put to death by His 
enemies, and His body was not removed from the cross until 
they were fully satisfied that the vital spark had fled. 6 His 
tomb was scooped out of a solid rock, 7 the stone which 
blocked up the entrance was sealed with all care, and a mili- 
tary guard kept constant watch to prevent its violation ; 8 
but in due time an earthquake shook the cemetery — " The 
angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and 
rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it ; . . . . 
and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead 
men." £ Our Lord meanwhile came forth from the grave, 
and the sentinels, in consternation, hastened to the chief priests 
and communicated the astounding intelligence. 10 But these 
infatuated men, instead of yielding to the force of this over- 
whelming evidence, endeavored to conceal their infamy by the 
base arts of bribery and falsehood. " They gave large money 
unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night 

and stole him away while we slept So they took the 

money and did as they were taught." 1X 

Jesus, as the first-born of Mary, was presented in the temple 
forty days after His birth ; and, as " the first-begotten of the 

1 John x. 18. 2 p s< xv i # IO; Acts ii. 31. 

3 John ii. 19; Mark viii. 31 ; Luke xviii. 33. 

4 John xiv. 19 ; 1 Thess. iv. 14. 

6 Rom. i. 4 ; 1 Cor. xv. 14, 17 ; 1 Pet. i. 3 ; Rev. i. 18. 

6 John xix. 33, 34. 7 Matt, xxvii. 60. 8 Matt, xxvii. 66. 

9 Matt, xxviii. 2, 4. 10 Matt, xxviii. 11. " Matt, xxviii. 12, 13, 15. 



26 JESUS AFTER HIS RESURRECTION. 

dead," ' He presented Himself before His Father in the temple 
above forty days after He had opened the womb of the grave. 
During the interval He appeared only to His own followers. 3 
Those who had so long and so wilfully rejected the testimony of 
His teaching and His miracles, had certainly no reason to expect 
any additional proofs of His Divine mission. But the Lord 
manifests Himself to His Church, "and not unto the world," 3 
and to such as fear His name He is continually supplying new 
and interesting illustrations of His presence, His power, His 
wisdom, and His mercy. Whilst He is a pillar of darkness to 
His foes, He is a pillar of light to His people. Though Jesus 
was now invisible to the Scribes and Pharisees, He admitted 
His disciples to high and holy fellowship. Their hearts 
burned within them as He spake to them " of the things per- 
taining to the kingdom of God," 4 and as " he expounded unto 
them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." B 
Now, He doubtless pointed out to them how He was symbol- 
ized in the types, exhibited in the promises, and described in 
the prophecies. He explained to them more fully the ar- 
rangements of His Church, and He commanded His apostles 
to go and " teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 6 Hav- 
ing assured the twelve of His presence with His true servants 
even unto the end of the world, and having led them out as 
far as Bethany, a village a few furlongs from Jerusalem, " he 
lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass 
while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried 
up into heaven." 7 

Thus closed the earthly career of Him who is both the 
Son of man and the Son of God. Though He was sorely 
tried by the privations of poverty, though He was exposed to 
the most brutal and degrading insults, and though at last He 
was forsaken by His friends and consigned to a death of 
lingering agony, He never performed a single act or uttered a 

1 Rev. i. 5. 2 Acts x. 40, 41. 

8 John xiv. 22. 4 Acts i. 3. 6 Luke xxiv. 27. 

6 Matt, xxviii. 19. T Luke xxiv. 50, 51. 



THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 2*J 

single word unworthy of His exalted and blessed mission. 
The narratives of the evangelists supply clear internal evi- 
dence that, when they described the history of Jesus, they 
copied from a living original ; for otherwise no four individuals, 
certainly no four Jews, could have each furnished such a por- 
trait of so great and so singular a personage. Combining the 
highest respect for the institutions of Moses with a spirit 
eminently catholic, He was at once a devout Israelite and a 
large-hearted citizen of the world. Rising far superior to the 
prejudices of His countrymen, He visited Samaria, and con- 
versed freely with its population ; and, when declaring that 
He was sent specially to the seed of Abraham, He was ready 
to extend His sympathy to their bitterest enemies. Though 
He took on Him the form of a servant, there was nothing 
mean or servile in His behavior ; for, when He humbled 
Himself, there was ever about Him an air of condescending 
majesty. Whether He administers comfort to the mourner, 
or walks upon the waves of the sea, or replies to the cavils of 
the Pharisees, He is still the same calm, holy, and gracious 
Saviour. When His passion was immediately in view, He 
was as kind and as considerate as ever, for, on the very night 
in which He was betrayed, He was employed in the institution 
of an ordinance which was to serve as a sign and a seal of 
His grace throughout all generations. His character is as 
sublime as it is original. It has no parallel in the history of 
the human family. The impostor is cunning, the demagogue 
is turbulent, and the fanatic is absurd ; but the conduct of 
Jesus Christ is uniformly gentle and serene, candid, courteous, 
and consistent. Well, indeed, may His name be called 
Wonderful. " He was in the world, and the world was made 
by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his 
own, and his own received him not. But as many as re- 
ceived him, to them gave he power to become the sons of 
God, even to them that believe on his name." x 

«. 
1 John i. 10-12. 



28 THE YEAR OF CHRIST'S BIRTH. 

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE TO CHAPTER II. 

THE YEAR OF CHRIST'S BIRTH. 

The Christian era commences on the 1st of January of the year 754 of 
the city of Rome. That our Lord was born about the time stated in the 
text may appear from the following considerations : 

The visit of the wise me7i to Bethlehem must have taken place a very 
few days after the birth of Jesus, and before His presentation in the temple. 
Bethlehem was not the stated residence of Joseph and Mary, either before 
or after the birth of the child (Luke i. 26, ii. 4, 39; Matt. ii. 2). They 
were obliged to repair to the place on account of the taxing, and imme- 
diately after the presentation in the temple, they returned to Nazareth and 
dwelt there (Luke ii. 39). Had the visit of the wise men occurred, as some 
think, six, or twelve, or eighteen months after the birth, the question of 
Herod to " the chief priests and scribes of the people " where " Christ 
should be born," would have been quite vain, as the infant might have 
been removed long before to another part of the country. The wise men 
manifestly expected to see a newly-born infant, and hence they asked, 
" Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? " (Matt. ii. 2.) The evangelist 
also states expressly that they came to Jerusalem "when Jesus was bom " 
(Matt. ii. 1). At a subsequent period they would have found the Holy 
Child, not at Bethlehem, but at Nazareth. 

The only plausible objection to this view of the matter is derived from 
the statement that Herod "sent forth and slew all the children that were 
in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and tinier, 
according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men " 
(Matt. ii. 16). The king had ascertained from these sages " what time the 
star appeared " (Matt. ii. 7), and they seem to have informed him that it 
had been visible a year before. A Jewish child was said to be two years 
old when it had entered on its second year (see Gresvvell's " Dissertations," 
vol. ii., 136) ; and, to make sure of his prey, Herod murdered all the infants 
in Bethlehem and the neighborhood under the age of thirteen months. 
The wise men had not told him that the child was a year old — it was ob- 
vious that they thought very differently — but the tyrant butchered all who 
came within the range of suspicion. It is highly probable that the star 
announced the appearance of the Messiah twelve mouths before he was 
born. Such an intimation was given of the birth of Isaac, who was a re- 
markable type of Christ. Gen. xvii. 21. See also 2 Kings iv. 16, and Dan. 
iv. 29, 33. 

The presentation of the infant in the temple occurred after the death of 
Herod. This follows as a corollary from what has been already advanced, 
for if the wise men visited Bethlehem immediately after the birth, and if 
the child was then hurried away to Egypt, the presentation could not have 
taken place earlier. The ceremony was performed forty days after the 



THE YEAR OF CHRIST S BIRTH. 29 

birth (Luke ii. 22, and Lev. xii. 2, 3, 4), and as the flight and the return 
might both have been accomplished in ten or twelve days, there was ample 
time for a sojourn of two or three weeks in that part of Egypt which was 
nearest to Palestine. Herod died during this brief exile, and yet his de- 
mise happened so soon before the departure of the holy family on their 
way home, that the intelligence had not meanwhile reached Joseph by the 
voice of ordinary fame ; and until his arrival in the land of Israel, he did 
not even know that Archelaus reigned in Judea (Matt. ii. 22). He inferred 
from the dream that the dynasty of the Herodian family had been com- 
pletely subverted, so that when he heard of the succession of Archelaus 
"he was afraid" to enter his territory; but, at this juncture, being 
"counselled of God " in another dream, he took courage, proceeded on his 
journey, and, after the presentation in the temple, " returned into the parts 
of Galilee." 

That the presentation in the temple took place after the death of Herod 
is further manifest from the fact that the babe remained uninjured, though 
his appearance in the sacred courts awakened uncommon interest, and 
though Anna " spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in 
Jerusalem " (Luke ii. 38). Herod had his spies in all quarters, and had he 
been yet living, the intelligence of the presentation and of its extraordinary 
accompaniments, must have soon reached his ears, and he would have made 
some fresh attempt upon the life of the infant. But when the babe was 
actually brought to the temple, the tyrant was no more. Jerusalem was 
in a state of great political excitement, and Archelaus had, perhaps, already 
set sail for Rome to secure from the emperor the confirmation of his title 
to the kingdom (see Josephus' "Antiq." xvii. c. 9), so that it is not strange if 
the declarations of Simeon and Anna did not attract any notice on the part 
of the existing rulers. 

Assuming, then, that Christ was born a very short time before the 
death of Herod, we have now to ascertain the date of the demise of that 
monarch. Josephus states ("Antiq." xiv. 14, § 5) that Herod was made king 
by the Roman Senate in the 184th Olympiad, when Calvinus and Pollio 
were consuls, that is, in the year of Rome 714; and that he reigned thirty- 
seven years ("Antiq." xvii. 8, § 1). We may infer, therefore, that his reign 
terminated in the year 751 of the city of Rome. He died shortly before 
the passover ; his disease was of a very lingering character ; and he appears 
to have languished under it upwards of a year (Josephus' "Antiq." xvii. 6, 
§§ 4, 5, and xvii. 9, §§ 2, 3). The passover of 751 fell on the 31st of March 
(see Greswell's "Dissertations," vol. i., p. 331), and as our Lord was in all 
likelihood born early in the month, the Jewish king probably ended his 
days a week or two afterward, or about the time of the vernal equinox. 
According to this computation the conception took place at the feast of 
Pentecost, which fell, in 750, on the 31st of May. 

This view is corroborated by Luke iii. 1, where it is said that the word 



30 THE YEAR OF CHRIST'S BIRTH. 

of God came to John the Baptist " in the fifteenth year of the reign of 
Tiberius Cesar." John's ministry had continued only a short time when 
he was imprisoned, and then Jesus " began to hea&out thirty years of age " 
(Luke iii. 23). Augustus died in August 767, and this year 767, accord- 
ing to a mode of recl/ming then in use (see Hales' " Chronology," i. 49, 
171, and Luke xxiv. 21), was the first year of his successor, Tiberius. The 
fiftee7tth year of Tiberius, according to the same mode of calculation, com- 
menced on the 1st of January, 781 of the city of Rome, and terminated on 
the 1st of January, 782. If our Lord was born about the 1st of March, 
751 of Rome, and if the Baptist was imprisoned early in 781, Jesus then 
" began to be about thirty years of age." This view is further confirmed 
by the fact that Quirinius, or Cyrenius, mentioned in Luke ii. 2, was first 
governor of Syria from the close of the year 750 of Rome to 753. (See 
Merivale, iv., p. 457, note.) Our Lord was born under his administra- 
tion, and according to the date we have assigned to the nativity, the 
"taxing" at Bethlehem took place a few months after Cyrenius entered 
into office. 

This view of the date of the birth of Christ, which differs somewhat 
from that of any writer with whom I am acquainted, meets all the difficul- 
ties connected with this much-disputed question. It is based partly upon 
the principle so ingeniously advocated by Whiston in his " Chronology," 
that the flight into Egypt took place before the presentation in the temple. 
I have never yet met with any antagonist of that hypothesis able to give a 
satisfactory explanation of the text on which it rests. Some other dates 
assigned for the birth of Christ are quite inadmissible. In Judea shep- 
herds are not found " abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock 
by night" (Luke ii. 8) in November, December, January, or, perhaps, 
February ; but in March, and especially in a mild season, such a thing is 
quite common. (See Greswell's " Dissertations," vol. i., p. 391, and Robin- 
son's " Biblical Researches," vol. ii., pp. 97, 98.) Hippolytus, one of the 
earliest Christian writers who touches on the subject, indicates that our 
Lord was born about the time of the passover. (See Greswell, i., 461, 
462.) 



CHAPTER III. 

THE TWELVE AND THE SEVENTY. 

It has often been remarked that the personal preaching of 
our Lord was comparatively barren. The effects produced 
were not what might have been expected from so wonderful 
a ministry ; but it had been predicted that the Messiah was 
to be " despised and rejected of men," x and the unbelief of the 
Jews constituted one of the trials He was ordained to suffer 
during His abode on earth. " The Holy Ghost was not yet 
given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." 2 We have, 
certainly, no evidence that any of His discourses made such 
an impression as that which accompanied the address of Peter 
on the day of Pentecost. Immediately after the outpouring 
of the Spirit at that period an abundant blessing followed the 
proclamation of the Gospel. But though Jesus often mourned 
over the obduracy of His countrymen, and though the truth, 
when preached by His disciples, was often more effective than 
when uttered by Himself, it can not with propriety be said 
that His own evangelical labors were quite unfruitful. The 
one hundred and twenty, who met in an upper room during 
the interval, between His Ascension and the day of Pente- 
cost, 3 were but a portion of His followers. The fierce and 
watchful opposition of the Sanhedrim had kept Him generally 
at a distance from Jerusalem ; it was there specially dangerous 
to profess an attachment to His cause ; and we may thus par- 
tially account for the paucity of His adherents in the Jewish 
metropolis. His converts were more numerous in Galilee ; 
and it was, probably, in that district He appeared to the com- 
pany of upwards of five hundred brethren who saw Him after 

1 Isa. liii. 3. 3 John vii. 39. 8 Acts i. 15. 

(31) 



32 THE TWELVE AND THE SEVENTY. 

His resurrection. 1 He had itinerated extensively as a mission- 
ary ; and, from some statements incidentally occurring in the 
Gospels, we infer that individuals had imbibed His doctrines 
in the cities and villages of almost all parts of Palestine. 3 In 
a statistical point of view, His ministry was " the day of small 
things "; and yet it was not absolutely barren : for, during the 
three years of its duration, He enlisted and sent forth no less 
than eighty-two preachers. Part of these have since been 
known as " The Twelve," and the rest as " The Seventy." 

The Twelve are frequently mentioned in the New Testa- 
ment, and yet the information we possess respecting them is 
exceedingly scanty. Of some we know little more than their 
names. It is thought that a town called Kerioth, 3 or Karioth* 
belonging to the tribe of Judah, was the birthplace of Judas, 
the traitor; 4 but all His colleagues were natives of Galilee. 6 
Some of them had various names ; and the consequent diver- 
sity which the sacred catalogues present has frequently per- 
plexed the reader of the evangelical narratives. Matthew was 
also called Levi ; 6 Nathanael was designated Bartholomew ; 7 
and Jude had the two other names of Lebbaeus and Thad- 
daeus. 8 Thomas was called Didymus, 9 or the twin, in refer- 
ence to the circumstances of his birth ; James the son of 
Alphaeus was styled, perhaps by way of distinction, James 

1 i Cor. xv. 6. 2 See Matt. xv. 31 ; John ii. 23, vii. 31, viii. 30. 

3 See Joshua xv. 25. 

4 Hence called Iscariot, that is, Ish Kerioth, or, a man of Kerioth. See 
Alford, " Greek Test.," Matt. x. 4. 

6 Acts ii. 7. 

6 Compare Matt. ix. 9, 10, and Mark ii. 14, 15. 

T " As St. John never mentions Bartholomew in the number of the apos- 
tles, so the other evangelists never take notice of Nathanael, probably be- 
cause the same person under two several names ; and as in John, Philip 
and Nathanael are joined together in their coming to Christ, so in the rest 
of the evangelists, Philip and Bartholomew are constantly put together 
without the least variation." — Caves Lives of the Apostles, Life of Barthol- 
omew. Compare Matt. x. 3 ; Acts i. 13 ; and John i. 45, xxi. 2. 

8 Compare Matt. x. 3, and Acts i. 13. 

9 John xi. 16, xxi. 2. 



THE TWELVE AND THE SEVENTY. 33 

" the Less " ' — in allusion to the inferiority of his stature ; the 
other James and John were surnamed Boanerges/ or the sons 
of thunder — a title indicative of the peculiar solemnity and 
power of their ministrations ; and Simon stands at the head 
of all the lists, and is expressly said to be " first " of the 
Twelve, 3 because whilst his advanced age warranted him to 
claim precedence, his superior energy and promptitude enabled 
him to occupy the most prominent position. The same indi- 
vidual is called Cephas, or Peter, or Stone? on account of the 
firmness of his character. His namesake, the other Simon, is 
termed the Canaanite, and also Zelotes, 6 or the zealot — a title 
expressive of the zeal and earnestness, with which he was wont 
to carry cut his principles. Our Lord sent forth the Twelve 
" by two and two," 6 but we are not told whether He observed 
any general rule in the arrangement of those who travelled in 
company. The relationship of the parties to each other, at 

1 Mark xv. 40. According to some he was related to our Lord, and 
hence called His brother (Gal. i. 19). But though Mary, the mother of our 
Saviour, had evidently several sons (see Matt. i. 20, 25, compared with 
Matt. xiii. 55 ; Mark vi. 3 ; Matt. xii. 46, 47), they were not disciples when 
the apostles were appointed,- and none of them consequently could have 
been of the Twelve. (See John vii. 5.) The other sons of Mary, who were 
all younger than Jesus, seem to have been converted about the time of the 
resurrection. Hence they are found among the disciples before the day of 
Pentecost (Acts i. 14). On this subject see an able article in the Princeton 
Review for January, 1865, pp. 1-53. See also Alford's "New Testament," 
iv., Prol. 89-97. 

8 Mark iii. 17. 3 Matt. x. 2. 4 John i. 42. 

6 Matt. x. 4 ; Mark iii. 18 ; Luke vi. 15 ; Acts i. 13. Some think that 
Kananites is equivalent to Zelotes, whilst others contend that it is derived 
from a village called Canan. See Alford, " Greek Test.," Matt. x. 4 ; and 
Greswell's " Dissertations," vol. ii., p. 128. Some MSS. have Kavavalog. 

6 Mark vi. 7. "Although no two of these catalogues (of the Twelve) 
agree precisely in the order of the names, they may all be divided into three 
quaternions, which are never interchanged, and the leading names of which 
are the same in all. Thus the first is alwaj^s Peter, the fifth Philip, the 
ninth James the son of Alpheus, and the twelfth Judas Iscariot. An- 
other difference is that Matthew and Luke's Gospel gives the names in 
pairs, or two and two, while Mark enumerates them singly, and the list 
before us (in the Acts) follows both these methods, one after the other." — 
Alexander o?i the Acts, vol. i., p. 19. 

3 



34 THE APOSTLES NOT EXTREMELY POOR. 

least in three instances, suggested a classification ; as Peter 
and Andrew, James and John, James the Less and Ju'dewere, 
respectively, brothers. Some of the disciples, such as Andrew, 1 
and John, 2 had previously been disciples of the Baptist ; but 
their separation from their former master and adherence to 
Jesus did not lead to any estrangement between our Lord and 
His pious forerunner. As the Baptist contemplated the more 
permanent and important character of the Messiah's mission, 
he could cheerfully say, " He must increase, but I must de- 
crease/' s 

All the Twelve, when enlisted as disciples of Christ, moved 
in the humbler walks of life ; and yet we are not warranted in 
asserting that they were extremely indigent. Peter, the fish- 
erman, indicates that, in regard to worldly circumstances, he 
had been a loser by obeying the call of Jesus. 4 Though James 
and John were likewise fishermen, the family had at least one 
little vessel of their own, and they could afford to pay " hired 
servants " to assist them in their business. 6 Matthew acted, 
in a subordinate capacity, as a collector of imperial tribute ; 
but though the Jews cordially hated a functionary who brought 
so painfully to their recollection their condition as a conquered 
people, the publican was engaged in a lucrative employment. 
Zacchaeus, a " chief among the publicans," 6 was a rich man ; T 
and Matthew was able to give an entertainment in his own 
house to a numerous company. 8 Still, however, the Twelve, 
as a body, were qualified, neither by their education nor their 
habits, for acting as popular instructors ; and had the Gospel 
been a device of human wisdom, it could not have been pro- 
moted by their advocacy. Individuals who had hitherto been 
occupied in tilling the land, in fishing, and in mending nets, 
or in sitting at the receipt of custom, were not fitted to make 
any great impression as ecclesiastical reformers. Their posi- 

1 John i. 35, 40. 

* From the great minuteness of the statements in the passage, it has been 
inferred that the evangelist himself was the second of the two disciples 
mentioned in John i. 35-37. 

9 John iii. 30. 4 Matt. xix. 27. 5 Mark i. 20. 

e Luke xix. 2. T Luke xix. 2. e Mark ii. 21. 



THE APOSTLES NOT LEARNED. 35 

tion in society gave them no influence ; their natural talents 
were not particularly brilliant ; and even their dialect beto- 
kened their connection with a district from which nothing 
good or great was anticipated. 1 But God exalted these men 
of low degree, and made them the spiritual illuminators of the 
world. 

Though the New Testament enters very sparingly into the 
details of their personal history, it is plain that the Twelve 
presented a considerable variety of character. Thomas, though 
obstinate, was warm-hearted and manly. Once when, as he 
imagined, his Master was going forward to certain death, he 
chivalrously proposed to his brethren that they should all 
perish along with Him ; 2 and though at first he doggedly re- 
fused to credit the account of the resurrection, 3 yet, when his 
doubts were removed, he gave vent to his feelings in one of 
the most impressive testimonies 4 to the power and godhead 
of the Messiah to be found in the whole book of revelation. 
Nathanael was frank and candid — " an Israelite indeed, in 
whom was no guile." 6 Our Lord bestowed on Peter and the 
two sons of Zebedee peculiar proofs of confidence and favor, 
for they alone were permitted to witness some of the most re- 
markable scenes in the history of the Man of Sorrows.' 
Though these three brethren displayed such a congeniality of 
disposition, they did not possess minds of the same mould, 
but each had excellences of his own which threw a charm 
around his character. Peter yielded to the impulse of the 
moment and acted with promptitude and vigor ; James be- 
came the first of the apostolic martyrs, probably because by 
his a"bility and boldness, as a preacher, he had provoked the 
special enmity of Herod and the Jews ; 7 whilst the benevolent 
John delighted to meditate on the " deep things of God," and 
listened with profound emotion to his Master as He discoursed 

1 John vii. 52. 2 John xi. 16. See also v. 8. 

8 John xx. 25. * John xx. 28. 

B John i. 47. 6 Mark v. 37, ix. 2 ; Matt. xxvi. 37. 

7 Acts xii. 2, 3. " It is remarkable that, so far as we know, one of these 
inseparable brothers (James and John) was the first, and one the last, that 
died of the apostles." — Alexander on the Acts, i. 443. 



36 VARIETY OF CHARACTER AMONG THE APOSTLES. 

of the mystery of His Person, and of the peace of believers 
abiding in His love. It has been conjectured that there was 
some family relationship between the sons of Zebedee and 
Jesus ; but of this there is no satisfactory evidence. 1 It was 
simply, perhaps, the marked attention of our Saviour to James 
and John which awakened the ambition of their mother, and 
induced her to bespeak their promotion in the kingdom of £he 
Son of Man. 2 

Though none of the Twelve had received a liberal educa- 
tion, 3 it can not be said that they were literally " novices " 
when invested with the ministerial commission. It is probable 
that, before they were invited to follow Jesus, they had all seri- 
ously turned their attention to the subject of religion ; some 
of them had been previously instructed by the Baptist ; and 
all, prior to their selection, had been about a year under the 
tuition of our Lord himself. From that time till the end 
of His ministry they lived with Him on terms of the most in. 
timate familiarity. From earlier acquaintance, as well as from 
closer and more confidential companionship, they had a bet- 
ter opportunity of knowing His character and doctrines 
than the rest of His disciples. When, about six or eight 
months 1 after their appointment, they were sent forth as mis- 
sionaries, they were commanded neither to walk in " the way 
of the Gentiles," nor to enter " into any city of the Samaritans," 
but to go " to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." * Their 
number, Twelve, corresponded to the number of the tribes ; 
and they were called apostles, in allusion to a class of Jewish 
functionaries who were so designated, for the High-Priest was 
wont to send forth from Jerusalem into foreign countries cer- 

1 See Greswell's " Dissertations," vol. ii., p. 115. 

* Matt. xx. 20, 21. 

8 Some writers have asserted that Philip and Nathanael were learned 
men, but of this there is no good evidence. See Cave's " Lives of the 
Apostles," Philip and Bartholomew. 

* Greswell makes it nine months. See his " Harmonia Evangelica," pp. 
xxiv. xx vi. 

* Matt. x. 5, 6. 



THE SEVENTY. 37 

tain accredited agents, or messengers, styled apostles, on eo- 
clesiastical errands. 1 

During the personal ministry of our Lord, the Twelve were 
employed by Him on only one missionary excursion. About 
twelve months after that event 2 He " appointed other seventy 
also " to preach His Gospel. Luke is the only evangelist who 
mentions the designation of these additional missionaries ; and 
though we have no reason to believe that their duties termina- 
ted with the first tour in v/hich they were engaged, 3 they are 
never subsequently noticed in the New Testament. Many of 
the actions of our Lord had a typical meaning, and He de- 
signed to inculcate an important truth by the appointment of 
these Seventy new apostles. According to the ideas of the 
Jews of that age there were seventy heathen nations ;* and it 
is rather singular that, omitting Peleg, the progenitor of the 
Israelites, the names of the posterity of Shem, Ham, and 
Japheth, recorded in the loth chapter of Genesis, amount 
exactly to seventy. " These," says the historian, " are the 
families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their 
nations ; and by these were the 7tations divided in the earth after 
the flood." 5 Every one who looks into the narrative will per- 
ceive that the sacred writer does not propose to furnish a com- 
plete catalogue of the descendants of Noah, for he passes over 
in entire silence the posterity of the greater number of the 

1 See Vitringa, " De Synagoga Vetere," p. 577, and Mosheim's " Com- 
mentaries," by Viclal, vol. i., 120-2, note. 

2 This is the calculation of Gresvvell, " Harmonia Evangelica," pp. xxvi. s 
xxxi. Robinson makes the interval considerably shorter. See his " Har- 
mony of the Four Gospels in Greek." 

3 They received new powers at the close of their first missionary excur- 
sion. See Luke x. 19. 

4 Selden, in his treatise " De Synedriis," supplies some curious informa- 
tion on this subject. See lib. ii., cap. 9, § 3. See also some singular specu- 
lations respecting it in Baumgarten's " Theologischer Commentar zum Pen- 
tateuch," i. 153, 351. Some of the fathers speak of seventy-two disciples 
and of seventy-two nations and tongues. See Stieren's " Irenaeus," i., p. 544, 
note, and Epiphanius, torn, i., p. 50, Edit. Colonias, 1682; compared with 
Gres well's " Dissertations," ii., p. 7. 

6 Gen. x. 32. 



38 



THE SEVENTY. 



patriarch's grandchildren ; he names only those who were the 
founders of nations ; and thus it happens, that whilst, in a 
variety of instances, he does not trace the line of succession* 
he takes care, in others, to mention the father and many of his 
sons. 1 The Jewish notion current in the time of our Lord as 



1 The following tabular view of the names of the descendants of Shem, 
Ham, and Japheth, mentioned in the ioth chapter of Genesis, will illustrate 
this statement : 



SHEM. 



Elam. Asshur. Arphaxad, 


Lud. 


Aram. 


Cush, 


Mizraim, Phut. 


Canaan, 


Salah, 




Uz, 


Seba, 


Ludim, 


Sidon, 


Eber, 




Hul, 


Havilah, 


Anamim, 


Heth, 


Peleg, 




Gether, 


Sabtah, 


Lehabim, 


Jebusite, 


Joktan, 




Mash. 


Raamah, 


Naphtuhim, 


Amorite, 


Almodad, 






Sabtecha, 


Pathrusim, 


Girgasite, 


Sheleph, 






Sheba, 


Casluhim, 


Hivite, 


Hazarmaveth. 




Dedan, 


Caphtorim, 


Arkite, 


Jerah, 






Nimrod. 


Philistim. 


Sinite, 


Iladoram, 










Arvadite, 


Uzal, 










Zemarite, 


Diklah, 










Hamathite 


Obal, 












Abimael, 












Sheba, 












Ophir, 












Havilah, 












Jobab. 




JAPH 


ETH. 






Gomer, Magog. 


Madai. 


Javan, 


Tubal. Meshech. 


Tiras. 


Ashkenaz, 






Elishah, 






Riphath, 






Tarshish, 






Togarmah. 






Kittim, 
Dodanim. 







It often happens that one branch of a family is exceedingly prolific, whilst 
another is barren. So it was with the descendants of the three sons of 
Noah. Thus Elam, Asshur, and others, each founded only one nation, 
whilst Arphaxad and his posterity founded eighteen. This view of the mat- 
ter is sustained by the authority of Augustine. "Why," says he, " when 
eight (seven ?) sons of Japheth are enumerated, are the descendants of two 
of them only added ? And when six (five ?) sons of Shem are named, why 
are the posterity of two only annexed ? Did the others remain without off- 
spring ? This can not be believed ; but they did not originate nations on 
account of which they should be worthy of commemoration." City of God, 
book xvi. c. 3. Augustine here reckons according to the Septuagint, which 
assigns eight sons to Japheth and six to Shem. 



THE SEVENTY. 39 

to the existence of seventy heathen nations rested, therefore, 
on a sound historical basis, inasmuch as, according to the 
Mosaic statement, there were, besides Peleg, precisely seventy 
individuals by whom " the nations were divided in the earth 
after the flood." We may thus infer that our Lord meant to 
convey a great moral lesson by the appointment alike of the 
Twelve and of the Seventy. In the ordination of the Twelve 
He evinced His regard for all the tribes of Israel ; in the or- 
dination of the Seventy He intimated that His Gospel was de- 
signed for all the nations of the earth. When the Twelve en- 
tered on their first mission He required them to go only to the 
Jews, but He sent forth the Seventy " two and two before 
His face into every city and place zv hit her He himself would 
come." l Toward the commencement of His public career, 
He had induced many of the Samaritans to believe on Him,* 
whilst at a subsequent period His ministry had been blessed 
to Gentiles in the coasts of Tyre and Sidon ; 3 and there is no 
evidence that in the 'missionary journey which He contem- 
plated when He appointed the Seventy as His pioneers, He in- 
tended to confine His labors to His kinsmen of the seed of 
Abraham. It is highly probable that the Seventy were actual- 
ly sent forth from Samaria? and the instructions given them 
suggest that, in the circuit assigned to them, they were to 
visit certain districts lying north of Galilee of the Gentiles.* 
The personal ministry of our Lord had respect primarily and 
specially to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, 6 but His 
conduct in this case symbolically indicated the catholic charac- 
ter of His religion. He evinced His regard for the Jews by 
sending no less than twelve apostles to that one nation, but 
He did not Himself refuse to minister either to Samaritans 
or Gentiles ; and to show that He was disposed to make pro- 
vision for the general diffusion of His word, He " appointed 
other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his 

1 Luke x. 1. 2 John iv. 39. 3 Mark vii. 24, 26, 30, 31. 

* This is the opinion of Dr. Robinson. See his " Harmony." See also 
Luke ix. 51, 52, x. 33. 

s Luke x. 13, 17, 18. 6 Matt. xv. 24. 



40 THE SEVENTY. 

face into every city and place whither he himself would 
come." 

It is very clear that our Lord committed, in the first in- 
stance, to the Twelve the organization of the ecclesiastical 
commonwealth. The most ancient Christian church, that of 
the metropolis of Palestine, was modelled under their super- 
intendence ; and the earliest converts gathered into it, after 
His ascension, were the fruits of their ministry. Hence, in 
the Apocalypse, the wall of the " holy Jerusalem " is said to 
have " twelve foundations, and in them the names of the 
twelve apostles of the Lamb." 1 But it does not follow that 
others had no share in founding the spiritual structure. The 
Seventy also received a commission from Christ, and doubt- 
less, after the death of their Master, they pursued their mis- 
sionary labors with renovated ardor. That they were called 
apostles as well as the Twelve, can not be established by dis- 
tinct testimony; 2 but it is certain that they were furnished 
with supernatural endowments; 3 and they are not over- 
looked in the description of the sacred writer when he repre- 
sents the New Testament Church as " built upon the founda- 
tion of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the 
chief corner-stone." * 

The appointment of the Seventy, like that of the Twelve, 
was a typical act ; and it is not therefore extraordinary that 
they are only once noticed in the sacred volume. Our Lord 
never intended to constitute two permanent corporations, 
limited, respectively, to twelve and seventy members, and 

1 Rev. xxi. 14. 

2 It is certain that some were called apostles who were not of the number 
of the Twelve. See Acts xiv. 4. In 1 Cor. xv. 5, 7, both " the Twelve," 
and "all the apostles," are mentioned, and it may be that the Seventy are 
included under the latter designation. Such was the opinion of Origen — 
iiretra toI(; eripotg Trapa roijg dudena anoaroloiq ttclgc, raxa role; k3(h[iijK0vra. 
"Contra Celsum," lib. ii. 65. See also " De Recta in Deum Fide," sec. i., 
Opera, torn i., p. 806. 

3 Luke x. 9, 16, 19, 24. 

* Eph. ii. 20. See also Eph. iii. 5. It is evident, especially from the lat- 
ter passage, that the. prophets here spoken of belong to the New Testament 
Church. 



THE SEVENTY. 41 

empowered to transmit their authority to successors from 
generation to generation. After His death the symbolical 
meaning of the mission of the Seventy was explained, as the 
Gospel was soon transmitted to all the ends of the earth ; and 
thus it was no longer necessary to refer to these represent- 
atives of the ministry of the universal Church. When the 
Twelve turned to the Gentiles, their number lost its signifi- 
cance, and from that date they accordingly ceased to fill up 
vacancies occurring in their society ; and, as the Church as- 
sumed a settled form, the apostles were disposed to insist less 
and less on any special powers with which they had been 
originally furnished, and rather to place themselves on a level 
with the ordinary rulers of the ecclesiastical community. 
Hence we find them sitting in church courts with these breth- 
ren, 1 and desirous to be known not as apostles, but as elders. 2 
We possess little information respecting either their official or 
their personal history. A very equivocal, and sometimes con- 
tradictory, tradition 3 is the only guide which even professes 
to point out to us where the greater number of them labored ; 
and the same witness is the only voucher for the statements 
which describe how most of them finished their career. It is an 
instructive fact that no proof can be given from the sacred 
record, of the ordination, either by the Twelve or by the 
Seventy, of even one presbyter or pastor. With the excep- 
tion of the laying on of hands upon the seven deacons, 4 no 
inspired writer mentions any act of the kind in which the 
Twelve ever engaged. The deacons were not rulers in the 

1 Acts xv. 6, xxi. 18. 

2 1 Pet. v. 1 ; 2 John, ver. 1 ; 3 John, ver. 1. It is remarkable that Papias, 
one of the very earliest of the fathers, actually speaks of the apostles simply 
as the elders. See Euseb., book ill., chap. 39. 

3 Thus, Simon Zelotes is said to have travelled into Egypt and thence 
passed into Mesopotamia and Persia, where he suffered martyrdom ; whilst, 
according- to others, he travelled through Egypt to Mauritania, and thence 
to Britain, where he was crucified. See Cave's " Lives of the Apostles," 
Life of Simon the Zealot. No weight can be attached to such legends. 
Origen states that the apostle Thomas labored in Parthia, and Andrew in 
Scythia. " In Genesim," Opera, torn, ii., p. 24. 

* Acts vi. 6. 



42 LITTLE KNOWN RESPECTING THE APOSTLES. 

Church, and therefore could not by ordination confer eccle- 
siastical power on others. 

There is much meaning in the silence of the sacred writers 
respecting the official proceedings and the personal career of 
the Twelve and the Seventy. It thus becomes impossible for 
any one to make out a title to the ministry by tracing his 
ecclesiastical descent ; for no contemporary records enable us 
to prove a connection between the inspired founders of our 
religion and those who were subsequently intrusted with the 
government of the Church. At the critical point where, had 
it been deemed necessary, we should have had the light of 
inspiration, we are left to wander in total darkness. We are 
thus shut up to the conclusion that the claims of those who 
profess to be heralds of the Gospel are to be tested by some 
other criterion than their ecclesiastical lineage. It is written, 
"By their fruits ye shall know them." 1 God alone can make 
a true minister; 3 and he who attempts to establish his right 
to feed the flock of Christ by appealing to his official genealogy 
miserably mistakes the source of his pastoral commission. It 
would, indeed, avail nothing, though a minister could prove 
his relationship to the Twelve or the Seventy by an unbroken 
line of ordinations, for some who at the time may have been 
able to deduce their descent from the apostles were amongst 
the most dangerous of the early heretics. 3 True religion is 
sustained, not by any human agency, but by that Eternal 
Spirit who quickens all the children of God, and who has pre- 
served for them a pure Gospel in the writings of the apostles 
and evangelists. The perpetuity of the Church no more de- 
pends on the uninterrupted succession of its ministers than 
does the perpetuity of a nation depend on the continuance of 
the dynasty which may happen at a particular date to occupy 
the throne. As plants possess powers of reproduction ena- 
bling them, when a part decays, to throw it off, and to supply 

1 Matt. vii. 1 6. 2 Acts xxvi. 16 ; Luke x. 2 ; i Tim. i. 12. 

3 Such was Valentine, the most formidable of the Gnostic heresiarchs, 
said to be a disciple of Theodas, the companion of Paul. Clem. Alex., 
Strom, vii. Paul of Samosata and Arius were able to boast, at least as much 
as their antagonists, of their apostolic descent. 



APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION. 43 

its place by a new and vigorous vegetation, so it is with the 
Church — the spiritual vine which the Lord has planted. Its 
government may degenerate into a corrupt tyranny by which 
its most precious liberties may be invaded or destroyed, but 
the freemen of the Lord are not bound to submit to any such 
domination. Were even all the ecclesiastical rulers to become 
traitors to the King of Zion, the Church would not therefore 
perish. The living members of the body of Christ should then 
repudiate the authority of their false overseers, and choose 
among themselves faithful men, competent to teach and to 
guide the spiritual community. The Divine Statute-book 
clearly warrants the adoption of such an alternative. " Be- 
loved," says the apostle John, " believe not every spirit, but 

try the spirits whether they are of God We are of 

God, he that knoweth God heareth us ; he that is not of God 
heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the 
spirit of error." ' " If there come any unto you, and bring not 
this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid 
him God-speed ; for he that biddeth him God-speed is partaker 
of his evil deeds." 2 Paul declares still more emphatically, 
" Though WE, or AN ANGEL FROM HEAVEN, preach any other 
gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, 
let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If 
any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have 
received, let him be accursed." 3 

In one sense neither the Twelve nor the Seventy had suc- 
cessors. All of them were called to preach the Gospel by the 
living voice of Christ himself; all had "companied" with 
Him during the period of His ministry ; all had listened to 
His sermons ; all had been spectators of His works of won- 
der; all were empowered to perform miracles; all seem to 
have conversed with Him after His resurrection ; and all ap- 
pear to have possessed the gift of inspired utterance. 4 But 
in another sense every " good minister of Jesus Christ " is a 
successor of these primitive preachers ; for every true pastor 
is taught of God, and is moved by the Spirit to undertake the 

1 i John iv. i, 6. 2 2 John x. n. 

3 Gal. i. 8, 9. 4 Luke x. 16. 



44 SIGNS OF A DIVINE COMMISSION. 

service in which he is engaged, and is warranted to expect 
a blessing on the truth which he disseminates. As of old the 
descent from heaven of fire on the altar testified the Divine 
acceptance of the sacrifices, so now the descent of the Spirit, 
as manifested in the conversion of souls to God, is a sure 
token that the labors of the minister have the seal of the 
Divine approbation. The great Apostle of the Gentiles did 
not hesitate to rely on such a proof of his commission from 
heaven. " Need we," says he to the Corinthians, " epistles of 
commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you ? 
Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of 
all men ; forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the 
epistle of Christ ministered by us, written, not with ink, but 
with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but 
in the fleshy tables of the heart." ' No true pastor will be 
left entirely destitute of such encouragement, and neither the 
Twelve nor the Seventy could produce credentials more trust- 
worthy or more intelligible. 

1 2 Cor. iii. 1-3. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL FROM THE DEATH OF CHRIST 

TO THE DEATH OF THE APOSTLE JAMES, 

THE BROTHER OF JOHN. 

A.D 31 TO A.D. 44. 



up the ghost," the work of atonement was complete. The 
ceremonial law virtually expired when He explained, by His 
death, its awful significance ; and the crisis of His passion 
was the birthday of the Christian economy. At this date 
the history of the New Testament Church properly com- 
mences. 

After His resurrection Jesus remained forty days on earth, 1 
and, during this interval, He often took occasion to point out 
to His disciples the meaning of His wonderful career. He 
said to them, " Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ 
to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day, and that re- 
pentance and remission of sins should be preached in his 
name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." * The in- 
spired narratives of the teaching and miracles of our Lord are 
emphatically corroborated by the fact, that a large Christian 
Church was established, almost immediately after His de- 
cease, in the metropolis of Palestine. The Sanhedrim and 
the Roman governor had concurred in His condemnation; 
and, on the night of His trial, even the intrepid Peter had 
been so intimidated that he had been tempted to curse and to 
swear as he averred that he knew not " The Man." It might 
have been expected that the death of Jesus would be followed 

1 Acts i. 3. a Luke xxiv. 46, 47. 

(45) 



46 THE COMMUNITY OF GOODS. 

by a reign of terror, and that no attempt would be made, at 
least in the place where the civil and ecclesiastical authorities 
resided, to assert the Divine mission of Him whom they had 
crucified as a malefactor. But perfect love casteth out fear. 
In the very city where He suffered, and a few days after His 
passion, His disciples ventured in the most public manner to 
declare His innocence and to proclaim Him as the Messiah. 
The result of their appeal was as wonderful as its boldness. 
Though the imminent peril of confessing Christ was well 
known, such was the strength of their convictions that multi- 
tudes resolved, at all hazards, to enroll themselves among His 
followers. The success which accompanied the preaching of 
the apostolic missionaries at the feast of Pentecost was a sign 
and a pledge of their future triumphs, for " the same day 
there were added unto them about three thousand souls." ' 

The disinterested behavior of the converts betokened their 
intense earnestness. "All that believed were together and 
had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods 
and parted them to all men, as every man had need." 8 
These early disciples were not, indeed, required, as a term of 
communion, to deposit their property in a common stock- 
purse; but, in the overflowings of their first love, they spon- 
taneously adopted the arrangement. On the part of the more 
opulent members of the community residing in a place which 
was the stronghold of Jewish prejudice and influence, this 
course was as prudent as it was generous. By joining a pro- 
scribed sect they put their lives, as well as their wealth, into 
jeopardy ; but, by the sale of their effects, they displayed a 
spirit of self-sacrifice which astonished and confounded their 
adversaries. They thus anticipated all attempts at spoliation, 
and gave a proof of their readiness to submit to any suffering 
for the cause they had espoused. An inheritance, when 
turned into money, was not easily sequestered ; and those 
who were in want could obtain assistance out of the secreted 
treasure. Still, even at this period, the principle of a com- 
munity of goods was not carried out into universal opera- 

1 Acts ii. 41. 2 Acts ii. 44, 45. 



THE COMMUNITY OF GOODS. 47 

tion ; for the foreign Jews converted to the faith, and " pos- 
sessors of lands or houses " 1 in distant countries, could neither 
have found purchasers, nor negotiated transfers, in the holy 
city. The first sales were obviously confined to those 'mem- 
bers of the Church who were owners of property in Jerusalem 
and its neighborhood. 

The system of having all things common, suggested in a crisis 
of extreme peril, was only a temporary expedient ; and it was 
soon given up altogether, as unsuited to the ordinary circum- 
stances of the Christian Church. But though, in a short time, 
the disciples in general were left to depend on their own re- 
sources, the community continued to provide a fund for the 
help of the infirm and the destitute. At an early period com- 
plaints were made respecting the distribution of this charity ; 
and "there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the He- 
brews because their widows were neglected in the daily minis- 
tration." 3 The Grecians, or those converts from Judaism who 
used the Greek language, were generally of foreign birth ; and 
as the Hebrews, or the brethren who spoke the vernacular 
tongue of Palestine, were natives of the country, there were 
suspicions that local influence secured for their poor an undue 
share of the public bounty. The expedient employed for the 
removal of this " root of bitterness" seems to have been com- 
pletely successful. " The twelve called the multitude of the 
disciples unto them and said, It is not reason that we should 
leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, 
look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the 
Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this 
business." 3 

Had the apostles been anxious for power they would them- 
selves have nominated the deacons. They could have urged, 
too, a very plausible apology for venturing upon such an exer- 
cise of patronage. They might have pleaded that the disciples 
were dissatisfied with each other — that the excitement of a 

1 See Acts iv. 34. Barnabas was probably obliged to go to Cyprus to com- 
plete the sale. 

8 Acts vi. 1. a Acts vi. 2, 3. 



48 THE SEVEN DEACONS. 

popular election was fitted to increase this feeling of alienation 
— and that, under these circumstances, prudence required them 
to take upon themselves the responsibility of the appointment. 
But they were guided by a higher wisdom ; and their conduct 
is a model for the imitation of ecclesiastical rulers in all suc- 
ceeding generations. It was the will of the Great Lawgiver 
that His Church should possess a free constitution; and 
accordingly, at the very outset, its members were intrusted 
with the privilege of self-government. The community had 
already been invited to choose an apostle in the room of Judas, 1 
and they were now required to name office-bearers for the 
management of their money transactions. But, whilst the 
Twelve appealed to the suffrages of the Brotherhood, they re- 
served to themselves the right of confirming the election ; and 
they could, by withholding ordination, have refused to fiat an 
improper appointment. Happily no such difficulty occurred. 
In compliance with the instructions addressed to them, the 
multitude chose seven of their number " whom they set before 
the apostles ; and, when they had prayed, they laid their hands 
on them." 2 

Prior to the election of the deacons, Peter and John had 
been incarcerated. The Sanhedrim wished to extort from them 
a pledge that they would " not speak at all nor teach in the 
name of Jesus," 3 but the prisoners nobly refused to consent to 
any such compromise. They "answered and said unto them, 
Whether it would be right in the sight of God to hearken 
unto you more than unto God, judge ye." 4 The apostles 
here disclaimed the doctrine of passive obedience, and asserted 
principles which lie at the foundation of the true theory of re- 
ligious freedom. They maintained that " God alone is Lord 
of the conscience" — that His command overrides all human 
regulations — and that, no matter what may be the penalties 
which earthly rulers annex to the breach of the enactments of 
their statute-book, the Christian is not bound to obey, when 
the civil law requires him to violate his enlightened convic- 

1 Acts i. 15, 23. They selected two, and not knowing which to prefer, 
they decided by lot. 

2 Acts vi. 6. 3 Acts iv. 18. * Acts iv. 19. 



THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN. 49 

tions. But the Sanhedrim despised such considerations. For 
a time they were obliged to remain quiescent, as public feeling 
ran strongly in favor of the new preachers ; but, soon after the 
election of the deacons, they resumed the work of persecution. 
The tide of popularity now began to turn ; and Stephen, one 
of the Seven, particularly distinguished by his zeal, fell a vic- 
tim to their intolerance. 

The martyrdom of Stephen occurred about three years and 
a half after the death of our Lord. 1 Daniel had foretold that 
the Messiah should " confirm the covenant with many for one 
week" 2 — an announcement which has been understood to in- 
dicate that, at the time of his manifestation, the Gospel should 
be preached with much success among his countrymen for seven 
years — and if the prophetic week commenced with the ministry 
of John the Baptist, it probably terminated with this bloody 
tragedy. 3 The Christian cause had hitherto prospered in Jeru- 
salem ; and, meanwhile, it had also made considerable progress 
throughout all Palestine ; but at this date it is suddenly arrested 
in its career of advancement.' The Jewish multitude begin to 
regard it with aversion ; and the Roman governor discovers 
that he may, at any time, obtain the tribute of their applause 
by oppressing its ablest and most fearless advocates. 

After His resurrection our Lord commanded the apostles to 

*That is, a.d. 34, dating the crucifixion A.D. 31. Tillemont, but on en- 
tirely different grounds, assigns the same date to the martyrdom of Stephen. 
See " Memoires pour servir a L'Histoire Ecclesiastique des Six Premiers 
Siecles," tome prem. sec. par. p. 420. Stephen's martyrdom probably oc- 
curred about the feast of Tabernacles. 

'Daniel ix. 27. A day in prophetic language denotes a year. Ezek. iv. 
4, 5. A prophetic week, or seven days, is, therefore, equivalent to seven years. 

3 " The one week, or Passion-week, in the midst of which our Lord was 
crucified, a.d. 31, began with His public ministry, A.D. 28, and ended with 
the martyrdom of Stephen, a.d. 34." — Hales Chronology, ii. p. 518. Faber 
and others, who hold that the one week terminated with the crucifixion, are 
obliged to adopt the untenable hypothesis that John the Baptist and our 
Lord together preached seven years. The view here taken is corroborated by 
the statement in Dan. ix. 27 : " In the tnidst of the week he shall cause the 
sacrifice and the oblation to cease," as Christ by one sacrifice of Himself 
"perfected forever them that are sanctified." 



50 THE GOSPEL IN SAMARIA. 

go and " teach all nations" ' and yet years rolled away before 
they turned their thoughts toward the evangelization of the 
Gentiles. The Jewish mind was slow to apprehend such an 
idea, for the posterity of Abraham had been long accustomed 
to regard themselves as the exclusive heirs of divine privi- 
leges ; but the remarkable development of the kingdom of God 
gradually led them to entertain more enlarged and more lib- 
eral sentiments. The progress of the Gospel in Samaria im- 
mediately after the death of Stephen, demonstrated that the 
blessings of the new dispensation were not to be confined to 
God's ancient people. Though many of the Samaritans ac- 
knowledged the divine authority of the writings of Moses, they 
did not belong to the Church of Israel ; and between them and 
the Jews a bitter antipathy had hitherto existed. When Philip 
appeared among them, and preached Jesus as the promised 
Messiah, they listened most attentively to his appeals, and not 
a few of them gladly received Christian baptism. 3 It could 
now no longer be said that the Jews had " no dealings with the 
Samaritans," 3 for the Gospel gathered both into the fold of a 
common Saviour, and taught them to keep " the unity of the 
Spirit in the bond of peace." 

When the disciples were scattered abroad by the persecution 
which arose after the martyrdom of Stephen, the apostles 
still kept their post in the Jewish capital; 4 for Christ had 
instructed them to begin their ministry in that place : 6 and 
they perhaps conceived that, until authorized by some farther 
intimation, they were bound to remain at Jerusalem. But the 
conversion of the Samaritans reminded them that the sphere 
of their labors was more extensive. Our Lord had said to 
them, M Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and 
in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the 
earth" 8 and events which were passing before their view were 
continually throwing additional light on the meaning of this 
announcement. The baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch, 7 about 
this period, was calculated to enlarge their ideas ; and the 

1 Matt, xxviii. 19. 2 Acts viii. 6, 12. 3 John iv. 9. 

4 Acts viii. 1. 6 Luke xxiv. 47; Acts i. 4. 

• Acts i. 8. T Acts viii. 27-38. 



THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE GENTILES. 5 1 

baptism of Cornelius pointed out, still more distinctly, the wide 
range of their evangelical commission. The minuteness with 
which the case of the devout centurion is described is a proof 
of its importance as connected with this transition-stage in the 
history of the Church. He had before known nothing of Peter; 
and, when they met at Caesarea, each could testify that he had 
been prepared for the interview by a special revelation from 
heaven. 1 Cornelius was " a centurion of the band called the 
Italian band " * — he was a representative of that military 
power which then ruled the world — and, in his baptism, we 
see the Roman empire presenting, on the altar of Christianity, 
the first-fruits of the Gentiles. 

It was not, however, very obvious, from any of the cases 
already enumerated, that the salvation of Christ was designed 
for all classes and conditions of the human family. The Samar- 
itans did not, indeed, worship at Jerusalem, but they claimed 
some interest in " the promises made unto the fathers "; and 
they conformed to many of the rites of Judaism. It does not 
appear that the Ethiopian eunuch was of the seed of Abraham ; 
but he acknowledged the inspiration of the Old Testament, 
and he was disposed, at least to a certain extent, to observe 
its institutions. Even the Roman centurion was what has 
been called a proselyte of the gate, that is, he professed the 
Jewish theology — " he feared God with all his house," 3 
though he had not received circumcision, and had not 
been admitted into the congregation of Israel. But the 
time was approaching when the Church was to burst forth be- 
yond the barriers within which it had been hitherto enclosed ; 
and an individual now appeared upon the scene who was to 
be the leader of this new movement. He is "a citizen of no 
mean city," 4 — a native of Tarsus in Cilicia, a place famous for 
its educational institutes 6 — and he is known, by way of dis- 
tinction, as " an apostle of the nations" 6 

The apostles were at first sent only to their own country- 
men ; T and for some time after our Lord's death, they did not 

1 Acts x. 19, 30, 32. 2 Acts x. 1. 

3 Acts x. 2. * Acts xxi. 39. 6 Strabo, xiv. p. 673. 

6 Rom. xi. 13 ; 1 Tim. ii. 7 ; 2 Tim. i. 11. 7 Matt. x. 5, 6. 



52 THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 

contemplate any more comprehensive mission. When Peter 
called on the disciples to appoint a successor to Judas, he 
acted under the conviction that the company of the Twelve 
was to be maintained in its integrity, and that it must still 
exactly represent the number of the tribes of Israel. But the 
Jews, after the death of Stephen, evinced an increasing aver- 
sion to the Gospel ; and as the apostles were eventually induced 
to direct their views elsewhere, they were also led to abandon 
an arrangement which had a special reference to the sectional 
divisions of the chosen people. Meanwhile, too, the manage- 
ment of ecclesiastical affairs had partially fallen into other 
hands ; new missions, in which the Twelve had no share, had 
been undertaken ; and Paul henceforth becomes most conspic- 
uous and successful in extending and organizing the Church. 

Paul describes himself as " one born out of due time." ' 
He was converted to Christianity when his countrymen 
seemed about to be consigned to judicial blindness ; and he 
was " called to be an apostle " * when others had been labor- 
ing for years in the same vocation. But he possessed pecul- 
iar qualifications for the office. He was ardent, energetic, 
and conscientious, as well as acute and eloquent. In his 
native city, Tarsus, he had received a good elementary educa- 
tion ; and afterward, " at the feet of Gamaliel," 3 in Jerusalem, 
he enjoyed the tuition of a Rabbi of unrivalled celebrity. 
The apostles of the Gentiles had much the same religious ex- 
perience as the father of the German Reformation ; for as 
Luther, before he understood the doctrine of a free salvation, 
attempted to earn a title to heaven by the austerities of mo- 
nastic discipline, so Paul in early life was " taught according 
to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers," 4 and " after 
the strictest sect of his religion lived a Pharisee." 6 His zeal 
led him to become a persecutor; and when Stephen was 
stoned, the witnesses required to take part in the execution 
prepared themselves for the work of death by laying down 
their upper garments at the feet of the "young man" Saul. 

1 i Cor. xv. 8. a Rom. i. I. s Acts xxii. 3. 

4 Acts xxii. 3. 6 Acts xxvi. 5. 8 Acts vii. 58. 



paul. 53 

He had established himself in the confidence of the Sanhedrim, 
and he may have been a member of that influential judicatory, 
for he tells us that he " shut up many of the saints in prison," 
and that, when they were put to death, " he gave his voice, 
or his vote, 1 against them " — a statement implying that he 
belonged to the court which pronounced the sentence of con- 
demnation. As he was travelling to Damascus armed with 
authority to seize any of the disciples whom he discovered in 
that city, and to convey them bound to Jerusalem, 2 the Lord 
appeared to him in the way, and he was suddenly converted. 9 
After reaching the end of his journey, and boldly proclaiming 
his attachment to the party he had been so recently endeavor- 
ing to exterminate, he retired into Arabia, 4 where he proba- 
bly spent three years in the devout study of the Christian 
theology. He then returned to Damascus, and entered, about 
A.D. 37, 5 on those missionary labors, which he prosecuted with 
so much efficiency and perseverance for upwards of a quarter 
of a century. 

Paul declares that he derived a knowledge of the Gospel 
immediately from Christ ; 6 and though for many years he had 
very little intercourse with the Twelve, he avers that he was 
" not a Whit behind the very chiefest apostles." 7 Throughout 

1 Acts xxvi. 10. 'ff/^ov. See Alford on Acts xxvi. 10, and Acts viii. 1. 
See also " The Life and Epistles of St. Paul," by Conybeare and Howson, 
i. 85. Edit., London, 1852. Paul says that " all the Jews " knew his man- 
ner of life from his youth — a declaration which implies that he was a per- 
son of note. See Acts xxvi. 4. There is a tradition that he aspired to be 
the son-in-law of the high-priest. Epiphanius, "Ad Haer," 1, 2, § 16 and 
§25. 

3 Acts ix. 2, and xxii. 5. 3 Acts ix. 3-21. * Gal. i. 17, 18. 

6 This date may be established thus : — Stephen, as has been shown, was 
martyred A.D. 34. See note, p. 49 of this chapter. Paul was converted 
in the same year, and therefore, if he returned to Damascus three years 
afterward, he was in that city in A.D. 37. It would appear, from another 
source of evidence, that this is the true date. The Emperor Tiberius died 
A.D. 37, and Aretas immediately afterward obtained possession of Damas- 
cus. He was in possession of it when Paul was there. See 2 Cor. xi. 32, 
33. It is probable that he remained master of the place only a very short 
time. 

e Gal. i. 12. 7 2 Cor. xi. 5. 



54 PAUL. 

life he was associated, not with them, but with others as his 
fellow-laborers ; and he obviously occupied a distinct and in- 
dependent position. When he was baptized, the ordinance 
was administered by an individual who is not previously men- 
tioned in the New Testament, 1 and when he was separated 
to the work to which the Lord had called him, 8 the ordainers 
were " prophets and teachers," respecting whose own call to 
the ministry the inspired historian supplies us with no infor- 
mation. But they had, no doubt, been regularly introduced 
into the places which they are represented as occupying ; they 
are all described by the evangelist as receiving the same spec- 
ial instructions from heaven ; and the tradition that, at least 
some of them, were of the number of the Seventy, 3 is exceed- 
ingly probable. And if, as has already been suggested, the 
mission of the Seventy indicated the design of our Saviour to 
diffuse the Gospel all over the world, we can see a peculiar 
propriety in the arrangement that Paul was ushered into the 
Church under the auspices of these ministers. 4 It was most 
fitting that he who was to be, by way of eminence, the apos- 
tle of the Gentiles, should be baptized and ordained by men 
whose own appointment was intended to symbolize the catho- 
lic spirit of Christianity. 

In the treatment of Paul by his unbelieving countrymen 
we have a most melancholy illustration of the recklessness of 
religious bigotry. These Jews knew that, in as far as secular 
considerations were concerned, he had everything to lose by 
turning into "the way which they called heresy"; they were 
bound to acknowledge that, by connecting himself with an 
odious sect, he at least demonstrated his sincerity and self- 

1 Acts ix. 17, 18. 2 Acts xiii. 1, 2. 

9 Simeon or Niger, according to Epiphanius, was one of the Seventy. 
" Hasres," 20, sec. 4. Luke, the writer of the Book of the Acts, is said to 
have been one of the Seventy, and the same as Lucius of Cyrene, mentioned 
Acts xiii. 1. 

* Ananias, by whom he was baptized, was, according to the Greek mar- 
tyrologies, one of the Seventy. See Burton's " Lectures," i. 88, note. It is 
evident that Ananias was a person of note among the Christians of Damas- 
cus. 



PAUL. 55 

denial ; but they were so exasperated by his zeal that they 
" took counsel to kill him." ' When, after his sojourn in Ara- 
bia, he returned to Damascus, that city was in the hands of 
Aretas, the king of Arabia Petrsea ; a who contrived to gain 
possession of it during the confusion which immediately fol- 
lowed the death of the Emperor Tiberius. This petty sover- 
eign courted the favor of the Jewish portion of the popula- 
tion by permitting them to persecute the disciples ; 3 and the 
apostle, at this crisis, would have fallen a victim to their ma- 
lignity had not his friends let him down " through a window, 
in a basket, by the wall," 4 and thus enabled him to escape a 
premature martyrdom. He now repaired to Jerusalem, where 
the brethren had not heard of his conversion, and where they 
at first refused to acknowledge him as a member of their 
society ; 6 for he had been obliged to leave Damascus with so 
much precipitation that he had brought with him no commen- 
datory letters ; but Barnabas, who is said to have been his 
school-fellow, 6 and who had in some way obtained informa- 
tion respecting his subsequent career, made the leaders of the 
Mother Church acquainted with the wonderful change which 
had taken place in his sentiments and character, and induced 
them to admit him to fellowship. During this visit to the 
holy city, while he prayed in the temple, he was more fully 
instructed respecting his future destination. In a trance, he 
saw Jesus, who said to him, " Depart : for I will send thee 
far hence unto the Gentiles!' 7 Even had he not received this 
intimation, the murderous hostility of the Jews would have 
obliged him to retire. "When he spake boldly in the name 
of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians, they 
went about to slay him. Which, when the brethren knew, 
they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to 
Tarsus." 8 

1 Acts ix. 23. * See Josephus' " Antiquities," xviii. 5. 

8 See Burton's " Lectures," i. 116, 117. 

4 2 Cor. xi. 32, 33. 5 Acts ix. 26, 27. 

6 This statement rests on the authority of a monk of Cyprus, named 
Alexander, a comparatively late writer. See Burton's " Lectures," i. 56, 
note. 7 Acts xxii. 21. 8 Acts ix. 29, 30. 



56 PAUL AT ANTIOCH. 

The apostle now labored for some years as a missionary in 
" the regions of Syria and Cilicia." ' His native city and 
its neighborhood probably enjoyed a large share of his minis- 
trations, and his exertions seem to have been attended with 
much success, for, soon afterward, the converts in these dis- 
tricts attract particular notice. 2 Meanwhile the Gospel was 
making rapid progress in the Syrian capital, and as Saul was 
considered eminently qualified for conducting the mission in 
that place, he was induced to proceed thither. " Then," says 
the sacred historian, " Barnabas departed to Tarsus to seek 
Saul, and when he had found him he brought him unto Anti- 
och. And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled 
themselves with the Church, and taught much people ; and 
the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." 3 

The establishment of a Church in this city formed a new 
era in the development of Christianity. Antioch was a great 
commercial mart, with a large Jewish as well as Gentile popu- 
lation. It was virtually the capital of the Roman empire in 
the East ; being the residence of the president or governor of 
Syria. Its climate was delightful, and its citizens, enriched by 
trade, were noted for their gayety and voluptuousness. In 
this flourishing metropolis many proselytes from heathenism 
were to be found in the synagogues of the Greek-speaking 
Jews, and the Gospel soon made rapid progress among these 
Hellenists. " Some of them (which were scattered abroad 
upon the persecution that arose about Stephen) were men of 
Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, 
spake unto the Grecians, 4 preaching the Lord Jesus. And 

1 Gal. i. 21. 2 Acts xv. 23, 41. 3 Acts xi. 25, 26. 

4 Griesbach, Lachmann, Alford, and other critics of great note, here pre- 
fer ''ET&ijvas to 'ElTiTjviordc, but the common reading is quite as well sup- 
ported by the authority of manuscripts, and more in accordance with Acts 
xiv. 27, where Paul and Barnabas are represented long afterward as declar- 
ing to the Church of Antioch how God " had opened the door of faith unto 
the Gentiles." See an excellent vindication of the textus receptus in the 
Journal of Sacred Literature for January, 1857, No. viii., p. 285, by the 
Rev. W. Kay, M.A., Principal of Bishop's College, Calcutta. £ee, on the 
other side, Alford's Greek Test., vol. ii., Proleg. 29-31, late edition. 



THE BRETHREN, WHY CALLED CHRISTIANS. $? 

the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number be- 
lieved and turned unto the Lord." 1 The followers of Jesus 
at this time received a new designation. They had hitherto 
called themselves " brethren " or " disciples " or " believers/' 
but now they " were called Christians " by some of the inhab- 
itants of the Syrian capital. As the unconverted Jews did 
not admit that Jesus was the Christ, they were obviously not 
the authors of this appellation, and, in contempt, they prob- 
ably styled the party Nazarenes or Galileans ; but it is easy to 
understand how the name was suggested to the pagans as 
most descriptive and appropriate. No one could be long in 
company with the new religionists without perceiving that 
Christ was " the end of their conversation." They delighted 
to tell of His mighty miracles, of His holy life, of the extraor- 
dinary circumstances which accompanied His death, and of 
His resurrection and ascension. Out of the fulness of their 
hearts they discoursed of His condescension and His meek- 
ness, of His wonderful wisdom, of His sublime theology, and 
of His unutterable love to a world lying in wickedness. When 
they prayed, they prayed to Christ ; when they sang, they sang 
praise to Christ ; when they preached, they preached Christ. 
Well then might the heathen multitude agree with one voice 
to call them Christians. The inventor of the title may have 
meant it as a nickname, but, if so, He who overruled the way- 
wardness of Pilate, so that he wrote on the cross a faithful in- 
scription, 2 also caused this mocker of His servants to stumble 
on a most truthful and complimentary designation. 

From his first appearance in Antioch, Paul occupied a very 
influential position among his brethren. In that refined and 
opulent city, his learning, his dialectic skill, his prudence, and 
his pious ardor were all calculated to make his ministry most 
effective. About a year after his arrival there, he was deputed 
in company with a friend to visit Palestine on an errand of 
love. " In those days came prophets from Jerusalem unto 
Antioch. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, 
and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth 

1 Acts xi. 20. 9 John xix. 19-22. 



58 PAUL AT ANTIOCH. 

throughout all the world ; which came to pass in the days of 
Claudius Cesar. Then the disciples, every man according to 
his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren which 
dwelt in Judea. Which also they did, and sent it to the el- 
ders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul." l 

This narrative attests that the principle of a community of 
goods was not recognized in the Church of Antioch ; for the 
aid administered was supplied, not out of a general fund, but 
by " every man according to his ability." There was here no 
" murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews," as, in the 
spirit of true brotherhood, the wealthy Hellenists of Antioch 
cheerfully contributed to the relief of the poor Hebrews of 
their fatherland. It is not stated that "the elders," in whose 
hands the money was deposited, were all office-bearers con- 
nected with the Church of Jerusalem. These, of course, re- 
ceived no small share of the donations, but as the assistance 
was designed for the " brethren which dwelt in Judea" and 
not merely for the disciples in the holy city, we may infer that 
it was distributed among the elders of all the Churches now 
scattered over the southern part of Palestine. 2 Neither did 
Barnabas and Paul require to make a tour throughout the dis- 
trict to visit these various communities. All the elders of 
Judea still continued to observe the Mosaic law; and as the 
deputies from Antioch were in Jerusalem at the time of the 
Passover, 3 they found their brethren in attendance upon the 
festival. 

It is reported by several ancient writers that the apostles 
were instructed to remain at Jerusalem for twelve years after 
the crucifixion of our Lord ; 4 and if the tradition is correct, 
•the holy city continued to be their stated residence till 
shortly before the arrival of these deputies from the Syrian 
capital. The time of this visit can be pretty accurately ascer- 
tained, and there is no point connected with the history of 

1 Acts xi. 27-30. 

a It is obvious from Acts ix. 31, xxvi. 20, and Gal. i. 22, that such 
Churches now existed. 
s Acts xii. 3, 24, 25. 
4 Clem. Alex., Strom, vi., p. 742, note ; Edit. Potter. Eusebius, v. 18. 



BARNABAS AND PAUL GO TO JERUSALEM. 59 

the book of the Acts respecting which there is such a close 
approximation to unanimity among chronologists ; for, as Jo- 
sephus notices, 1 both the sudden death of Herod Agrippa, 
grandson of Herod the Great, which now occurred, 2 and the 
famine against which this contribution was intended to pro- 
vide, it is apparent from the date which he assigns to them 
that Barnabas and Saul reached Jerusalem about A.D. 44.* 
At this juncture at least two of the apostles — James the 
brother of John, and Peter — were in the Jewish capital, and 
all the rest had not yet finally taken their departure. The 
Twelve did not set out on distant missions until they were 
thoroughly convinced that they had ceased to make progress 
in the conversion of their countrymen in the land of their fa- 
thers. And it is no trivial evidence, at once of the strength 
of their convictions and of the truth of the evangelical his- 
tory, that they continued so long and so efficiently to pro- 
claim the Gospel in the chief city of Palestine. Had they 
not acted under an overwhelming sense of duty, they would 
not have remained in a place where their lives were in perpet- 
ual jeopardy ; and, had they not been faithful witnesses, they 
could not have induced so many of all classes of society to 
believe statements which, if unfounded, would have been con- 
tradicted on the spot. The apostles were known to many in 
Jerusalem as the companions of our Lord ; for, during His 
public ministry, they had often been seen with Him in the 
city and the temple ; and, therefore, peculiar importance was 
attached to their testimony respecting His doctrines and His 
miracles. Their preaching in the headquarters of Judaism 
was fitted to exert an immense influence — as that metropolis 
itself contained a vast population, and as it was, besides, the 
resort of strangers from all parts of the world. And so long 

1 "Antiquities," xix. c. 8, § 2, xx. c. 2, § 5. 2 Acts xii. 20-23. 

3 From the comparative table of chronology appended to Wieseler's 
" Chronologie des apostolischen Zeitalters," it appears that the date given 
in the text is adopted by no less than twenty of the highest chronological 
authorities, including Ussher, Pearson, Spanheim, Tillemont, Michaelis, 
Hug, and De Wette. It is also adopted by Burton. Wieseler himself, on 
insufficient grounds, adopts A.D. 45. 



60 THE APOSTLES LEAVE JERUSALEM. 

as the apostles ministered in Jerusalem or in Palestine only to 
the house of Israel, it was expedient that their number, which 
was an index of the Divine regard for the whole of the twelve 
tribes, should be maintained in its integrity. But when, after 
preaching twelve years among their countrymen at home, they 
found their labors becoming comparatively barren ; and when, 
driven by persecution from Judea, they proceeded on distant 
missions, their position was quite altered. Their number had 
at least partially ' lost its original significance ; and hence, 
when an apostle died, the survivors no longer deemed it nec- 
essary to take steps for the appointment of a successor. We 
find accordingly that when Herod " killed James, the brother 
of John, with the sword," 2 no other individual was selected 
to occupy the vacant apostleship. 

It has been already stated that when Paul was in Jerusalem 
for the first time after his conversion, he received, when pray- 
ing in the temple, a divine communication informing him of 
his mission to the heathen. 3 During his present visit, as the 
bearer of the contributions from Antioch, he seems to have 
been favored with another revelation. In his Second Epistle 
to the Corinthians he refers to this most comfortable, yet mys- 
terious, manifestation. " I know," * says he, " a man in Christ 
fourteen years ago 5 (whether in the body, I can not tell, or 
whether out of the body, I can not tell ; God knoweth) such 
an one caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a 

1 Though Peter was taught by the case of Cornelius that " God also to 
the Gentiles had granted repentance unto life" (Acts xi. 18), and, though 
he doubtless felt himself a debtor, both to the Greeks and to the Jews, yet 
still he continued to cherish the conviction that his mission was primarily to 
his kinsmen according to the flesh. James and John had the same impres- 
sion. See Gal. ii. 9; James i. 1 ; 1 Pet. i. 1. 

2 Acts xii. 2. 8 Acts xxii. 17-21. 

4 I here partially adopt the translation of Conybeare and Howson. Their 
work is one of the most valuable contributions to sacred literature of the 
present century. The revised version of the New Testament has much the 
same reading. 

6 The Second Epistle to the Corinthians was written about fourteen years 
after this, or toward the close of a.d. 57. See Chap. IX. of this Section, 
The Jews often reckoned current time as if it were complete. 



PAUL'S VISION. 6l 

man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I can not tell ; 
God knoweth) that he was caught up into paradise, and heard 
unspeakable words which it is not lawful for man to utter." 1 
The present position of the apostle explains the design of 
this sublime and delightful vision. As Moses was encouraged 
to undertake the deliverance of his countrymen when God 
appeared to him in the burning bush, 2 and as Isaiah was em- 
boldened to go forth, as the messenger of the Lord of hosts, 
when he saw Jehovah sitting upon His throne attended by 
the seraphim/ so Paul was stirred up by an equally impressive 
revelation to gird himself for the labors of a new appointment. 
He was about to commence a more extensive missionary 
career, and before entering upon so great and so perilous an 
undertaking, the King of kings condescended to encourage 
him by admitting him to a gracious audience, and by per- 
mitting him to enjoy some glimpses of the glory of those 
realms of light where " they that be wise shall shine as the 
brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to 
righteousness as the stars forever and ever." 

1 2 Cor. xii. 2-4. « Exodus iii. 2-10. 8 Isaiah vi. I, 2, 8, 9. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE ORDINATION OF PAUL AND BARNABAS ; THEIR MISSION- 

ARY TOUR IN ASIA MINOR ; AND THE COUNCIL 

OF JERUSALEM. 

A.D. 44 to A.D. 51. 

SOON after returning from Jerusalem to Antioch, Paul was 
formally invested with his new commission. His fellow- 
deputy, Barnabas, was appointed as his coadjutor in this im- 
portant service. " Now," says the evangelist, " there were in 
the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers, 
as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of 
Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod 
the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and 
fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul 
for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they 
had fasted, and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they 
sent them away." ' 

Ten years had now elapsed since the conversion of Paul ; 
and during the greater part of this period, he had been busily 
engaged in the dissemination of the Gospel. In the days of his 
Judaism the learned Pharisee had been accustomed to act as 
a teacher in the synagogues ; and, when he became obedient 
to the faith, he was permitted to expound his new theology in 
the Christian assemblies. Barnabas, his companion, was a 
Levite ; 2 and as his tribe was specially charged with the duty 
of public instruction, 3 he too had probably been a preacher 
before his conversion. Both these men were called of God to 
labor as evangelists, and the Head of the Church had already 

1 Acts xiii. 1-3. 9 Acts iv. 36. ' Deut. xxxiii. 10. 

(62) 



ORDINATION OF PAUL AND BARNABAS. 63 

abundantly honored their ministrations ; but hitherto neither 
of them had been clothed with pastoral authority by any 
regular ordination. Their constant presence in Antioch was 
now no longer necessary, so that they were thus left at liberty 
to prosecute their missionary operations in the great field of 
heathendom; and at this juncture they were designated, in 
due form, to their " ministry and apostleship." "The Holy 
Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work 
whereunto I have called them." When we consider the pres- 
ent circumstances of these two brethren, we may see, not only 
why these instructions were given, but also why their observ- 
ance has been so distinctly registered. 

It is apparent that Barnabas and Saul were now called to a 
position of higher responsibility than that which they had pre- 
viously occupied. They had heretofore acted simply as preach- 
ers of the Christian doctrine. Prompted by love to their 
common Master, and by a sense of individual obligation, they 
had endeavored to diffuse all around them a knowledge of 
the Redeemer. They taught in the name of Jesus, just be- 
cause they possessed the gifts and the graces required for such 
a service ; and, as their labors were acknowledged of God, 
they were encouraged to persevere. But they were now to go 
forth, as a solemn deputation, under the sanction of the 
Church ; and not only to proclaim the truth, but also to bap- 
tize converts, to organize Christian congregations, and to 
ordain Christian ministers. It was, therefore, proper that, on 
this occasion, they should be regularly invested with the eccle- 
siastical commission. 

On other grounds it was desirable that the mission of Bar- 
nabas and Paul should be thus inaugurated. Though the 
apostles had been lately driven from Jerusalem, and though 
the Jews were exhibiting increasing aversion to the Gospel, 
the Church was, notwithstanding, about to expand with ex- 
traordinary vigor by the ingathering of the Gentiles. In 
reference to these new members Paul and Barnabas pursued a 
bold and independent course, advocating views which many 
regarded as dangerous, latitudinarian, and profane ; for they 
maintained that the ceremonial law was not binding on the 



64 ORDINATION OF PAUL AND BARNABAS. 

converts from heathenism. Their adoption of this principle 
exposed them to much suspicion and obloquy ; and because 
of the tenacity with which they persisted in its vindication, 
not a few were disposed to question their credentials as ex- 
positors of the Christian faith. It was, therefore, expedient 
that their right to perform all the apostolic functions should 
be placed above challenge. In some way, not particu- 
larly described, their appointment by the Spirit of God was 
accordingly made known to the Church at Antioch ; and thus 
all the remaining prophets and teachers, who officiated there, 
could distinctly testify that these two brethren had received a 
call from heaven to engage in the work to which they were 
now designated. Their ordination, in obedience to this divine 
communication, was a decisive recognition of their spiritual 
authority. The Holy Ghost had attested their commission, 
and the ministers of Antioch, by the laying on of hands, set 
their seal to the truth of the oracle. Their title to act as 
founders of the Church was thus authenticated by evidence 
which could not be legitimately disputed. Paul himself ob- 
viously attached considerable importance to this transaction* 
and he afterward refers to it in language of marked emphasis, 
when, in the beginning of the Epistle to the Romans, he in- 
troduces himself as "a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an 
apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God" l 

In the circumstantial record of this proceeding, to be found 
in the Acts of the Apostles, we have a proof of the wisdom of 
the Author of Revelation. He foresaw that the rite of " the 
laying on of hands " would be sadly abused ; and that, repre- 
sented as possessing something like a magic potency, it was to 
be at length converted, by a small class of ministers, into an 
ecclesiastical monopoly. He has, therefore, supplied us with 
an antidote against delusion, by permitting us, in this simple 
narrative, to scan its exact import. And what was the virtue 
of the ordination here described ? Did it furnish Paul and 
Barnabas with a title to the ministry? Not at all. God him- 
self had already called them to the work, and they could re- 

1 Rom. i. i. 



ORDINATION OF PAUL AND BARNABAS. 65 

ceive no higher authorization. Did it necessarily add any- 
thing to the eloquence, or the prudence, or the knowledge, or 
the piety of the missionaries? No results of the kind were to 
be produced by any such ceremony. What, then, was its 
meaning? The evangelist himself furnishes an answer. The 
Holy Ghost required that Barnabas and Saul should be sepa- 
rated to the work to which the Lord had called them, and the 
laying on of hands was the mode, or form, in which they were 
set apart, or designated, to the office. This rite, to an Israelite, 
suggested grave and hallowed associations. When a Jewish 
father invoked a benediction on any of his family, he laid his 
hand upon the head of the child j 1 when a Jewish priest de- 
voted an animal in sacrifice, he laid his hand upon the head of 
the victim ; 2 and when a Jewish ruler invested another with 
office, he laid his hand upon the head of the new functionary. 3 
The ordination of these brethren possessed all this significance. 
By the laying on of hands the ministers of Antioch implored 
a blessing on Barnabas and Saul, and announced their separa- 
tion, or dedication, to the work of the Gospel, and intimated 
their investiture with ecclesiastical authority. 

It is worthy of note that the parties who acted as ordainers 
were not dignitaries, planted here and there throughout the 
Church, and selected for this service on account of their of- 
ficial pre-eminence. They were all, at the time, connected 
with the Christian community assembling in the city which 
was the scene of the inauguration. No individual among them 
claimed the precedence; all engaged on equal terms in the 
performance of this interesting ceremony. We can not mistake 
the official standing of these brethren if we only mark the 
nature of the duties in which they were ordinarily occupied. 
They were " prophets and teachers "; they were sound script- 
ural expositors ; some of them were endowed with the gift of 
prophetic interpretation ; and they were all employed in im- 
parting theological instruction. Though the name is not here 
expressly given to them, they were, at least virtually, " the 
elders who labored in the word and doctrine." 4 Paul, there- 

*Gen. xlviii. 13-15. 2 Lev. viii. 18, and iv. 4. 

* Num. xxvii. 18. * 1 Tim. v. 17. 

5 



66 PAUL AND BARNABAS IN CYPRUS. 

fore, was ordained by the laying on of the hands of the Presby- 
tery of Antioch. 1 

If the narrative of Luke was designed to illustrate the ques- 
tion of ministerial ordination, it plainly suggests that the 
power of Church rulers is very circumscribed. They have no 
right to refuse the laying on of hands to those whom God has 
called to the work of the Gospel, and who, by their gifts and 
graces, give credible evidences of their holy vocation ; and 
they are not at liberty to admit the irreligious or incompetent 
to ecclesiastical offices. In the sight of the Most High the or- 
dination to the pastorate of an individual morally and mentally 
disqualified is invalid and impious. 

Immediately after their ordination Paul and Barnabas en- 
tered on their apostolic mission. Leaving Antioch they 
quickly reached Seleucia a — a city distant about twelve miles 
— and from thence passed on to Cyprus, 3 the native country of 
Barnabas." They probably spent a considerable time in that 
large island. It contained several towns of note ; it was the 
residence of great numbers of Jews ; and the degraded state 
of its heathen inhabitants may be inferred from the fact that 
Venus was their tutelary goddess. The preaching of the 
apostles in this place created an immense sensation ; their fame 
at length attracted the attention of persons of the highest dis- 
tinction, and the heart of Paul was cheered by the accession of 
no less illustrious a convert than Sergius Paulus, 5 the Roman 
proconsul. Departing from Cyprus, Paul and Barnabas now set 

1 This portion of the apostolic history may illustrate I Tim. iv. 14, for 
Paul had official authority conferred on him " by prophecy," or in conse- 
quence of a revelation made, perhaps, through one of the prophets of An- 
tioch, "with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery." Something 
similar, probably, occurred in the case of Timothy. Bur, in ordinary cir- 
cumstances, the rulers of the Church must judge of a divine call to the min- 
istry from the gifts and graces of the candidate for ordination. 

a Acts xiii. 4. 3 Acts xiii. 4. 4 Acts iv. 36. 

6 Until this date we read of "Barnabas and Saul," now of " Paul and 
Barnabas." Paul was the Roman, and Saul the Hebrew name of the great 
apostle. His superior qualifications had now full scope for development, 
and accordingly, as he takes the lead, he is henceforth generally named be- 
fore Barnabas. 



PAUL AND BARNABAS IN ASIA MINOR. 67 

sail for Asia Minor, where they landed at Perga, in Pamphylia. 
Here John Mark, the nephew of Barnabas, by whom they had 
been hitherto accompanied, refused to proceed further. He 
seems to have been intimidated by the prospect of accumulat- 
ing difficulties. From many, on religious grounds, they had 
reason to anticipate a most discouraging reception ; and the 
land journey now before them was otherwise beset with dan- 
gers. Whilst engaged in it, Paul experienced those " perils of 
waters," or of " rivers," ' and " perils of robbers," which he aft- 
erward mentions; for the highlands of Asia Minor were in- 
fested with banditti, and the mountain streams often rose with 
frightful rapidity, and swept away the unwary stranger. John 
Mark returned to Jerusalem, and, at a subsequent period, we 
find Paul refusing, in consequence, to receive him as a travel- 
ling companion.* But though Barnabas was then dissatisfied 
because the apostle continued to be distrustful of his relative, 
and though " the contention was so sharp " between these two 
eminent heralds of the cross that "they departed asunder one 
from the other," 3 the return of this young minister from Per- 
ga led to no change in their present arrangements. Continu- 
ing their journey into the interior of the country, they 
preached in Antioch of Pisidia, in Iconium, in " Lystra and 
Derbe, cities of Lycaonia," and in " the region that lieth round 
about." 4 When they had proceeded thus far, they began to 
retrace their steps, and again visited the places where they had 
previously succeeded in collecting congregations. They now 
supplied their converts with a settled ministry. When they 
had presided in every church at an appointment of elders, 6 in 
which the choice was determined by popular suffrage, 8 and 
when they had prayed with fasting, they laid their hands on 
the elected office-bearers, and in this form " commended 

1 2 Cor. xi. 26, — Trora/xcjv. 2 Acts xv. 38. 

3 Acts xv. 39. * Acts xiv. 6. 5 Acts xiv. 23. 

6 XetpoTovfoavTEC Se avrolg nar 7 hKKXrjaiav TrpEofivrkpovg. — The interpretation 
given in the text is sanctified by the highest authorities. See Rothe's 

Anfange der Christlichen Kirche," p. 150; Alford on Acts xiv. 23 ; But- 
ton's " Lectures," i. 150 ; Baumgarten's " Acts of the Apostles," Acts xiv. 
23 ; Litton's " Church of Christ," p. 595. 



68 PAUL AND BARNABAS IN ASIA MINOR. 

them to the Lord on whom they believed." Having thus 
planted the Gospel in many districts which had never before 
been trodden by the feet of a Christian missionary, they re- 
turned to Antioch in Syria to rehearse " all that God had done 
with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the 
Gentiles." ' 

Paul and Barnabas spent about six years in this first tour; 2 
and, occasionally, when their ministrations were likely to exert 
a wide and permanent influence, remained long in particular 
localities. The account of their designation, and of their labors 
in Cyprus, Pamphylia, Lycaonia, and the surrounding regions, 
occupies two whole chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. The 
importance of their mission may be estimated from this length- 
ened notice. Christianity greatly extended its base of opera- 
tions, and shook paganism in some of its strongholds. In every 
place which they visited, the apostles observed a uniform plan 
of procedure. In the first instance, they made their appeal to 
the seed of Abraham ; as they were themselves learned Israel- 
ites, they were generally permitted, on their arrival in a town, 
to set forth the claims of Jesus of Nazareth in the synagogue ; 
and not until the Jews had exhibited a spirit of unbelief, did 
they turn to the heathen population. In the end, by far the 
majority of their converts were reclaimed idolaters. " The 
Gentiles were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord, and as 
many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." 3 Astonished 
at the mighty miracles exhibited by the two missionaries, the 
pagans imagined that " the gods " had come down to them 
" in the likeness of men " ; and at Lystra the priest of Jupiter 
" brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have 
done sacrifice with the people"; 4 but the Jews looked on in 
sullen incredulity, and kept alive an active and implacable op- 
position. At Cyprus, the apostles had to contend against the 
craft of a Jewish conjuror; 5 at Antioch, " the Jews stirred up 
the devout and honorable women, and the chief men of the 

1 Acts xiv. 27. 

9 They set out on the mission probably in A.D. 44, and returned to Antioch 
in A.D. 50. The Council of Jerusalem took place, the year following. 
3 Acts xiii. 48. 4 Acts xiv. 13. 5 Acts xiii. 6-8. 



PAUL AND BARNABAS IN ASIA MINOR. 69 

city, and raised persecution " against them, " and expelled them 
out of their coasts "; 1 at Iconium, the Jews again " stirred up 
the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the 
brethren"; 3 and at Lystra the same parties "persuaded the 
people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, sup- 
posing he had been dead." 3 The trials through which he now 
passed made an indelible impression on the mind of the great 
apostle, and in the last of his epistles, written many years after- 
ward, he refers to them as among the most formidable he en- 
countered in his perilous career. Timothy, who at this time 
was a mere boy, witnessed some of these ebullitions of 
Jewish malignity, and marked with admiration the heroic 
spirit of the heralds of the Cross. Paul, when about to 
be decapitated by the sword of Nero, could, therefore, appeal 
to the evangelist, and could fearlessly declare that, twenty 
years before, when his life was often at stake, he had not quailed 
before the terrors of martyrdom. " Thou," says he, " hast fully 
known my long-suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflic- 
tions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra^ 
what persecutions I endured ; but out of them all the Lord 
delivered me." * 

The hostile efforts of the Jews did not arrest the Gospel in 
its triumphant career. The truth prevailed mightily among 
the Gentiles, and the great influx of converts began to impart 
an entirely new aspect to the Christian community. At first 
the Church consisted exclusively of Israelites by birth, and all 
who entered it still continued to observe the institution of 
Moses. But the number of its Gentile adherents soon pre- 
ponderated, and ere long the keeping of the typical law be- 
came the peculiarity of a minority of its members. Many of 
the converted Jews were by no means prepared for such an 
alternative. They prided themselves on their divinely-instituted 
worship ; and, misled by the fallacy that whatever is appointed 
by God can never become obsolete, they conceived that the 
spread of Christianity must be connected with the extension 

'Acts xiii. 50. 2 Acts xiv. 2. 

3 Acts xiv. 19. * 2 Tim. iii. 10, 11. 



JO THE CIRCUMCISION CONTROVERSY. 

of their national ceremonies. They accordingly asserted that 
the commandment relative to the initiatory ordinance of Juda- 
ism was binding upon all admitted to Christian fellowship. 
" Certain men which came down from Judea" to Antioch, 
"taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after 
the manner of Moses, ye can not be saved." x 

Paul was eminently qualified to deal with such errorists. 
He had once valued himself on his Pharisaic strictness, but 
when God revealed to him His glory in the face of Jesus 
Christ, he was taught to distinguish between a living faith and 
a dead formalism. Pie still maintained his social status, as one 
of the " chosen people," by the keeping of the law ; but he 
knew that it merely prefigured the great redemption, and that 
its types and shadows must quickly disappear before the light 
of the Gospel. He saw, too, that the arguments urged for cir- 
cumcision could also be employed in behalf of all the Leviti- 
cal arrangements, 2 and that the tendency of the teaching of 
these " men which came down from Judea" was to encumber 
the disciples with the weight of a superannuated ritual. Nor 
was this all. The apostle felt that the spirit which animated 
these Judaizing zealots was a spirit of self-righteousness. 
When they " taught the brethren and said, Except ye be cir- 
cumcised after the manner of Moses, ye can not be saved" they 
subverted the doctrine of justification by faith alone. 3 A sin- 
ner is saved as soon as he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ,* 
and he requires neither circumcision, nor any other ordinance, 
to complete his pardon. Baptism rs, indeed, the sign by which 
believers solemnly declare their acceptance of the Gospel, and 
the seal by which God is graciously pleased to recognize them 
as heirs of the righteousness of faith; and yet even baptism is 
not essential to salvation, for the penitent thief, though un- 
baptized, was admitted into Paradise. 5 But circumcision is no 
part of Christianity at all ; it does not so much as indicate that 
the individual who submits to it is a believer in Jesus. Faith 

1 Acts xv. i. 

2 This inference was indeed admitted. See Acts xv. 5, 24. 

s Gal. v. 2-4, vi. 13, 14. * Acts xvi. 31 ; John iii. 36. 

6 Luke xxiii. 43. 



THE CIRCUMCISION CONTROVERSY. J l 

in the Saviour is the only and the perfect way of justification. 
" Blessed are all they that put their trust in him/' 1 for Christ 
will, without fail, conduct to glory all who commit themselves 
to His guidance and protection. Those who trust in Him can 
not but love Him, and those who love Him can not but de- 
light to do His will ; and as faith is the root of holiness and 
happiness, so unbelief is the fountain of sin and misery. But 
though the way of salvation by faith can only be* spiritually 
discerned, many seek to make it palpable by connecting it with 
certain visible institutions. Faith looks to Jesus as the only 
way to heaven ; superstition looks to some outward observ- 
ance, such as baptism or circumcision (which is only a finger- 
post on the way), and confounds it with the way itself. Faith 
is satisfied with a very simple ritual ; superstition wearies itself 
with the multiplicity of its minute observances. Faith holds 
communion with the Saviour in all His appointments, and re- 
joices in Him with joy unspeakable ; superstition leans on forms 
and ceremonies, and is in bondage to these beggarly elements. 
No wonder then that the attempt to impose on the converted 
Gentiles the rites of both Christianity and Judaism encountered 
such resolute opposition. Paul and Barnabas at once withstood 
its abettors, and had " no small dissension and disputation with 
them." ! It was felt, however, that a matter of such grave im- 
portance merited the consideration of the collective wisdom 
of the Church, and it was accordingly agreed to send these 
two brethren, "and certain other of them," " to Jerusalem un- 
to the apostles and elders about this question/ 

It is not stated that the Judaizing teachers confined their in- 
terference to Antioch, and the subsequent narrative indicates 
that the deputation to Jerusalem acted on behalf of all the 
Churches in Syria and Cilicia. 4 The Christian societies scat- 
tered throughout Pamphylia, Lycaonia, and some other dis- 
tricts of Asia Minor, were not directly concerned in sending 
forward the commissioners ; but as these communities had 
been collected and organized by Paul and Barnabas, they con- 
sidered that they were represented by their founders, and they 

^s. ii. 12. 2 Acts xv. 2. 3 Acts xv. 2. 4 Acts xv. 23, 24, 41. 



72 THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM. 

at once acceded to the decision of the assembly which met in 
the Jewish metropolis. 1 That assembly approached more 
closely than any ecclesiastical convention ever since held, to 
the character of a general council. It is clear that its deliber- 
ations took place at the time of one of the great annual 
festivals ; for, seven or eight years before, the apostles had 
commenced their travels as missionaries, and except at the 
season of the Passover or of Pentecost, the Syrian deputation 
could not have reckoned on finding them in the holy city. It 
is not said that the officials to be consulted belonged exclu- 
sively to Jerusalem. 2 They included the elders throughout 
Palestine who usually repaired to the capital to celebrate the 
national solemnities. This meeting, therefore, was constructed 
on a broader basis than what a superficial reading of the nar- 
rative might suggest. Among its members were the older 
apostles, as well as Barnabas and Paul, so that it contained 
the principal founders of the Jewish and Gentile Churches; 
there were also present the elders of Jerusalem, and deputies 
from Antioch, that is, the representatives of the two most exten- 
sive and influential Christian societies in existence ; whilst com- 
missioners from the Churches of Syria and Cilicia, and elders 
from various districts of the holy land, were likewise in attend- 
ance. The Universal Church was thus fairly represented in 
this memorable Synod. 

1 Acts xvi. 4. 

a Paul and Barnabas, with the other deputies, were sent " to Jerusalem 
unto the apostles and elders " (Acts xv. 2) ; " when they were come to Jeru- 
salem they were received of the Church, even of the apostles and elders " 
(Acts xv. 4) ; and the decrees were ordained " of the apostles and elders 
which were at Jerusalem " (Acts xvi. 4) ; but not one of these statements 
necessarily implies that these rulers were exclusively elders of the Church of 
Jerusalem. I here venture to deviate a little from our authorized translation 
of Acts xv. 4. The word church seems in this place to mean — not the whole 
multitude of the disciples, but the apostles and elders. Paul and Barnabas, 
and their fellow-deputies, were " received of the church even (or, that is or 
both) of the apostles and elders." The visit seems to have been of a pri- 
vate nature. See Gal. ii. 2. It was expedient, under the circumstances, 
that there should be no public reception. That x a ^ has occasionally the 
meaning here indicated we may see by a reference to Rom. xi. 33 ; Matt. 
xxi. 5, and other passages. 



THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM. 73 

The meeting was held A.D. 51, and Paul, exactly fourteen 
years before, 1 had visited Jerusalem for the first time after his 
conversion. 3 So little was then known of his remarkable his- 
tory, even in the chief city of Judea, that when he " essayed 
to join himself to the disciples, they were all afraid of him, 
and believed not that he was a disciple"; 3 but now his position 
was completely changed, and he was felt to be one of the 
most influential personages who took part in the proceedings 
of this important convention. Some have maintained that 
the whole multitude of believers in the Jewish capital deliber- 
ated and voted on the question in dispute, but there is cer- 
tainly nothing in the statement of the evangelist to warrant 
such an inference. It is very evident that the disciples in the 
holy city were not prepared to approve unanimously of the 
decision which was actually adopted, for long afterward they 
were " all zealous of the law," 4 and they looked with extreme 
suspicion on Paul himself, because of the lax principles, in 
reference to its obligation, which he was understood to patron- 
ize. 5 When he arrived in Jerusalem on this mission he found 
there a party determined to insist on the circumcision of the 
converts from heathenism ; 6 he complains of the opposition 
he now encountered from these " false brethren unawares 
brought in " ; 7 and, when he returned to Antioch, he was fol- 

1 It has been argued by Burton ("Lectures," vol. L, p. 122), that the first 
visit of Paul to Jerusalem after his conversion took place about the time of 
one of the great festivals, as he is said, on the occasion, to have " disputed 
against the Grecians " (Acts ix. 29), who were likely then to have been very 
numerous in the city. If he arrived now at the time of the same festival, 
the interval was precisely fourteen years. 

2 Gal. ii. 1. Some make these fourteen years to include the three years 
mentioned Gal. i. 18, but this interpretation does violence to the language 
of the apostle. The system of chronology here adopted requires no such 
forced expositions. Paul came to Jerusalem three years after his conversion, 
that is, in a.d. 37 ; and fourteen years after, that is, in A.D. 51, he was at 
this Synod. 

3 Acts ix. 26. * Acts xxi. 20. 5 Acts xxi. 21. 6 Acts xv. 5. 

7 Gal. ii. 4. It is here taken for granted that the visit to Jerusalem men- 
tioned in the second chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians, is the same 
as that described in the fifteenth of Acts. Paul says that he went up 
" by revelation " (Gal. ii. 2), — a statement from which it appears that he 
was divinely instructed to adopt this method of settling the question. 



74 THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM. 

lowed by emissaries from the same bigoted and persevering 
faction. 1 It is quite clear, then, that the finding of the meet- 
ing, mentioned in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts, did not 
please all the members of the church of the metropolis. The 
apostle says expressly that he communicated " privately " on 
the subject with "them which were of reputation," 2 and in 
the present state of feeling, especially in the headquarters of 
Judaism, Paul recoiled from the discussion of a question of 
such delicacy before a promiscuous congregation. The resolu- 
tion now agreed upon, when subsequently mentioned, is set 
forth as the act, not of the whole body of the disciples, but 
of " the apostles and elders," 3 and as they were the arbiters to 
whom the appeal was made, they were obviously the only 
parties competent to pronounce a deliverance. 

Two or three expressions of doubtful import, which occur 
in connection with the history of the meeting, have induced 
some to infer that all the members of the Church of Jerusalem 
were consulted on this occasion. It is said that " all the 
multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and 
Paul"; 4 that it "pleased the apostles and elders with the 
whole church to send chosen men of their own company to 
Antioch "; 6 and, according to our current text, that the epistle 
intrusted to the care of these commissioners, proceeded from 
"the apostles and elders and brethren." '" But "the whole 
church," and "all the multitude," merely signify the whole as- 
sembly present, and do not necessarily imply even a very nu- 
merous congregation. 7 Some at least of the "certain other" 
deputies 8 sent with Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, were, we 
may presume, disposed to doubt or dispute their views ; as it 
is not probable that a distracted constituency consented to the 
appointment of commissioners, all of whom were already com- 

1 Gal. ii. 12. 2 Gal. ii. 2. 3 Acts xvi. 4, xxi. 25. 

* Acts xv. 12. 5 Acts xv. 22. 6 Acts xv. 23. 

7 The expression here used — " the multitude " (to -kItjQos) — is repeatedly 
applied in the New Testament to the Sanhedrim, a court consisting of not 
more than seventy-two members. See Luke xxii. 1 ; Acts xxiii. 7. There 
were probably more individuals present at this meeting. 

8 Acts xv. 2. 



THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM. 75 

mitted to the same sentiments. When, therefore, the evan- 
gelist reports that the proposal made by James " pleased the 
apostles and elders with the whole Church" he thus designs to 
intimate that it met the universal approval of the meeting, 
including the deputies on both sides. There were prophets 
and others possessed of extraordinary endowments, in the 
early Church, 1 and, as some of these were connected with Jeru- 
salem, 2 we can scarcely suppose that they were not permitted 
to be present in this deliberative assembly. If we adopt the re- 
ceived reading of the superscription of the circular letter, 3 
the " brethren " who are there distinguished from " the 
apostles and elders," were, in all likelihood, these gifted mem- 
bers. 4 But according to the testimony of by far the best and 
most ancient manuscripts, the true reading of this encyclical 
epistle is, " The apostles and elders, brethren* As the Syrian 
deputies were commissioned to consult, not the general body 

1 i Cor. xii. 28 ; Eph. iv. 11. 

2 In Acts xi. 27, we read of " prophets " who came " from Jerusalem unto 
Antioch." 

3 Acts xv. 23. " The apostles, and elders, and brethren." 

4 The context may appear to ba favorable to this interpretation, for the 
two deputies now chosen — " Judas surnamed Barnabas, and Silas " — who 
were " chief men among the brethren " (ver. 22), are likewise described as 
"prophets also themselves" (ver. 32). In Acts xviii. 27, "the brethren" 
appear to be distinguished from " the disciples." 

6 This reading, which is adopted by Mill in the Prolegomena to his New 
Testament, as well as by Lachmann, Neander, Alford, and Tregelles, is 
supported by the authority of the Codex Vaticanus, the Codex Alexandri- 
nus, the Codex Ephraemi, and the Codex Bezae. It is to be found in by far 
the most valuable cursive MS. yet known. It is confirmed also by the early 
testimony of Irenaeus, and by the Latin of the Codex Bezae, a version more 
ancient than the Vulgate, as well as by the Vulgate itself. It is likewise 
the original reading of the Codex Sinaiticus — the uncial MS. recently brought 
to light by Dr. Tischendorf, and, as it would appear, the most ancient and 
valuable in existence. Dr. Tischendorf informs me in a letter, dated Leip- 
sic, 15th August, 1860, that in this MS. a later ha?id has inserted koX ol 
before ddetyol. The reading given above may now, therefore, be considered 
as conclusively established. The reading in the texius receptus may be ac- 
counted for by the growth of the doctrine of apostolical succession ; as, 
when the hierarchy was in its glory, transcribers could not understand how 
the apostles and elders could be fellow-presbyters. 



J6 THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM. 

of Christians at Jerusalem, but the apostles and elders, this 
reading, now recognized as genuine by the highest critical au- 
thorities, is sustained by the whole tenor of the narrative. 
The same parties who " came together to consider of this 
matter " also framed the decree. The apostles and elders, 
brethren, were the only individuals officially concerned in this 
important transaction. 1 

In this council the apostles acted, not as men oracularly 
pronouncing the will of the Eternal, but as ordinary church 
rulers, proceeding, after careful inquiry, to adopt the sugges- 
tions of an enlightened judgment. One passage of the Syn- 
odical epistle has been supposed to countenance a different 
conclusion, for those assembled " to consider of this matter " 
are represented as saying to the Syrian and Cilician Churches, 
" // seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you 
no greater burden " 2 than the restrictions which are presently 
enumerated. But it is to be observed that this is the lan- 
guage of " the elders, brethren," as well as of the apostles, so 
that it was used by many who made no pretensions to inspira- 
tion ; and it is apparent from the context that the council 
here merely reproduces an argument against the Judaizers 
which had been always felt to be irresistible. The Gentiles 
had received the Spirit " by the hearing of faith," 3 and not by 
the ordinance of circumscision ; and hence it was contended 
that the Holy Ghost himself had decided the question. Peter, 
therefore, says to the meeting held at Jerusalem, " God, 
which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them 
the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us ; and put no difference 
between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now, 
therefore, why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of 
the disciples, which neither our fathers, nor we, were able to 
bear?" 4 He had employed the same reasoning long before, 
in defence of the baptism of Cornelius and his friends. "The 
Holy Ghost," said he, " fell on them Forasmuch, then, 

1 It is worthy of note that Peter, fourteen or fifteen years afterward, 
speaks in the style here indicated. Thus he says, " The elders which are 
among you, I exhort, who am also an elder " (cvfiirpec^vrepog) — (i Pet. v. i.) 

2 Acts xv. 28. 3 Gal. iii. 2. * Acts xv. 8-10. 



THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM. 77 

as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed 
on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand 
God? 1 ' 1 When, then, the members of the council here de- 
clared, " It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us," ? they 
thus simply intimated that they were shut up to the arrange- 
ment which they now announced — that God himself, by im- 
parting His Spirit to those who had not received the rite of 
circumcision, had already settled the controversy — and that, 
as it had seemed good to the Holy Ghost not to impose the 
ceremonial law upon the Gentiles, so it also seemed good to 
" the apostles and elders, brethren." 

But whilst the abundant outpouring of the Spirit on the 
Gentiles demonstrated that they were sanctified and saved 
without circumcision, and whilst the Most High had thus pro- 
claimed their freedom from the yoke of the Jewish ritual, it 
is plain that, in regard to this point, as well as other matters 
noticed in the letter, the writers speak as the accredited inter- 
preters of the will of Jehovah. They state that it seemed 
good to the Holy Ghost and to them to require the converts 
from paganism " to abstain from meats offered to idols, and 
from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication." 3 
And yet, without any special revelation, they might have felt 
themselves warranted to give such instructions in such lan- 
guage, for surely they were at liberty to say that the Holy 
Ghost had interdicted fornication; and, as the expounders of 
the doctrine of Christian expediency, 4 their views may have 
been so clear that they could speak with equal confidence as 
to the duty of the disciples under present circumstances to 
abstain from blood, and from things strangled, and from 
meats offered to idols. If they possessed "the full assurance 
of understanding " as to the course to be pursued, they 
deemed it right to signify to their correspondents that the 
decision which they now promulgated was, not any arbitrary 
or hasty deliverance, but the very " mind of the Spirit " 

1 Acts xi. 15, 17. 

a This style of speaking was used by councils in after-ages, and often in 
cases when it was singularly inappropriate. 
8 Acts xv. 29. 4 See 1 Cor. x. 23, 31, 32. 



78 THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM. 

either expressly communicated in the Word, or deduced from 
it by good and necessary inference. In this way they aimed 
to reach the conscience, and they knew that they thus fur- 
nished the most potential argument for submission. 

It may at first sight appear strange that whilst the apostles, 
and those who acted with them at this meeting, condemned 
the doctrine of the Judaizers, and affirmed that circumcision 
was not obligatory on the Gentiles, they, at the same time, 
required the converts from paganism to observe a part of the 
Hebrew ritual ; and it may seem quite as extraordinary that, 
in a letter which was the fruit of so much deliberation, they 
placed an immoral act, and a number of merely ceremonial 
usages, in the same catalogue. But, on reflection, we may 
recognize their tact and Christian prudence in these features 
of their communication. Fornication was one of the crying 
sins of Gentilism, and, except when it interfered with social 
arrangements, the heathen did not even acknowledge its crim- 
inality. When, therefore, the new converts were furnished 
with the welcome intelligence that they were not obliged to 
submit to the painful rite of circumcision, it was well, at the 
same time, to remind them theit there were lusts of the flesh 
which they were bound to mortify; and it was expedient that, 
whilst a vice so prevalent as fornication should be specified, 
they should be distinctly warned to beware of its pollutions. 
For another reason they were directed to abstain from " meats 
offered to idols." It often happened that what had been 
presented at the shrine of a false god was afterward exposed 
for sale, and the council cautioned the disciples against par- 
taking of such food, as they might thus appear to give a 
species of sanction to idolatry, as well as tempt weak brethren 
to go a step further, and directly countenance the supersti- 
tions of the heathen worship. 1 The meeting also instructed the 
faithful in Syria and Cilicia to abstain from " blood and from 
things strangled," because the Jewish converts had been ac- 

1 " Since the eating of such food, as Paul expressly teaches (r Cor. x. 19, 
33), was not sinful in itse'f, and yet to be avoided out of tenderness to those 
who thought it so, the abstinence here recommended must be understood in 
the same manner." — Alexander on the Acts, ii. 84. 



THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM. 79 

customed from infancy to regard aliment of this description 
with abhorrence, and they could scarcely be expected to sit at 
meat with parties who partook of such dishes. Though the 
use of them might be lawful, it was, at least for the present, 
not expedient ; and on the principle that, whether we eat, or 
drink, or whatever we do, we should do all to the glory of 
God, the Gentile converts were admonished to remove them 
from their tables, that no barrier might be raised against 
social or ecclesiastical communion with their brethren of the 
seed of Abraham. 

It was high time for the authoritative settlement of a ques- 
tion at once so perplexing and so delicate. It already threat- 
ened to create a schism in the Church ; and the agitation, 
which had commenced before the meeting of the council, was 
not immediately quieted. When Peter visited Antioch shortly 
afterward, he at first triumphed so far over his prejudices as 
to sit at meat with the converts from paganism ; but when 
certain sticklers for the law arrived from Jerusalem, "-he with- 
drew, and separated himself, fearing them which were of the 
circumcision." 1 The " decree " of the apostles and elders un- 
doubtedly implied the lawfulness of eating with the Gentiles, 
but it contained no express injunction on the subject, and 
Peter, who was now about to " go unto the circumcision/" 
and who was, therefore, most anxious to conciliate the Jews, 
may have pleaded this technical objection in defence of his 
inconsistency. It is said that others, from whom better things 
might have been expected, followed his example, " insomuch 
that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimula- 
tion." 3 But, on this critical occasion, Paul stood firm ; and 
his bold and energetic remonstrances appear to have had the 
effect of preventing a division which must have been most 
detrimental to the interests of infant Christianity. 

1 Gal. ii. 12. a Gal. ii. 9. 3 Gal. ii. 13. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE INTRODUCTION OF THE GOSPEL INTO EUROPE, AND 
THE MINISTRY OF PAUL AT PHILIPPI. 

A.D. 52. 

AFTER the Council of Jerusalem, the Gospel continued its 
prosperous career. When Paul had remained for some time 
at Antioch, where he returned with the deputation, he set out 
to visit the Churches of Syria and Cilicia ; and then travelled 
through Lycaonia, Galatia, and some other portions of Asia 
Minor. He was now directed, by a vision, 1 to pass over into 
Greece; and about the spring of A.D. 52, or twenty-one years 
after the crucifixion, Europe was entered, for the first time, 
by the Apostle of the Gentiles. Paul commenced his minis- 
try in this new sphere of labor by announcing the great salva- 
tion to the inhabitants of Philippi, a city of Macedonia, and a 
Roman colony. 5 

Nearly a century before, two powerful factions, contending 
for the government of the Roman world, had converted this 
district into a theatre of war; and two famous battles, which 
issued in the overthrow of the Republic, had been fought in 
the neighborhood. The victor had rewarded some of his 
veterans by giving them possessions at Philippi. The Chris- 
tian missionary entered, as it were, the suburbs of the great 
metropolis of the West, when he made his appearance in this 
military colony ; for, it had the same privileges as the towns 
of Italy, 3 and its inhabitants enjoyed the status of Roman 

1 Acts xvi. 9. 2 Acts xvi. 12. 

3 " The Jus Italicum raised provincial land to the same state of immu- 
nity from taxatim which belonged to land in Italy." — Conybeare and 
Hawson, i. 302, note. 
(80) 



PAUL AT PHILIPPI. 8.1 

citizens. Here he now originated a spiritual revolution which 
eventually changed the face of Europe. The Jews had no 
synagogue in Philippi ; but, in places such as this, where their 
numbers were few, they were wont, on the Sabbath, to meet 
for worship by the side of some river in which they could con- 
veniently perform their ablutions ; and Paul accordingly re- 
paired to the banks of the Gangitas, 1 where he expected to 
find them assembled for devotional exercises. A small ora- 
tory, or house of prayer, seems to have been erected on the 
spot ; but the little society connected with it must have been 
particularly apathetic, as the apostle found only a few females 
in attendance. One of these was, however, the first-fruits of 
his mission to the Western continent. Lydia, a native of 
Thyatira, and a seller of purple, — a species of dye for which 
her birthplace had acquired celebrity, — was the name of the 
convert ; and though the Gospel may already have made some 
progress in Rome, yet so far as direct historical testimony is 
concerned, this woman has the best claim to be recognized as 
the mother of European Christianity. It is said that she 
" worshipped God," a that is, though a Gentile, she had been 
proselyted to the Jewish faith ; and the history of her conver- 
sion is given by the evangelist with remarkable clearness and 
simplicity. " The Lord opened her heart that she attended 
unto the things that were spoken of Paul." 3 When she and 
her family were baptized, she entreated the missionaries to 
" come into her house and abide there " during their sojourn 
in the place ; and, after some hesitation, they accepted the 
proffered hospitality. 

Another female acts a conspicuous part in connection with 
this apostolic visit. " It came to pass," says Luke, " as we 
went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of div- 
ination met us, which brought her masters much gain by 
•soothsaying : the same followed Paul and us, and cried, say- 
ing, These men are the servants of the Most High God, 
which show unto us the way of salvation. And this did she 
many days." 4 Daemons may have the power of discerning 

1 Not the Strymon. See Conybeare and Howson, i. 316. 
" Acts xvi. 14. 3 Acts xvi. 14. 4 Acts xvi.16-18. 

6 



82 PAUL AT PHILIPPI. 

certain classes of future events with the quickness of intui- 
tion j 1 and if, as the Scriptures testify, they have sometimes 
entered into human bodies, we can well understand how the 
individuals thus possessed have obtained credit for divination. 
In this way the damsel mentioned by the evangelist may have 
acquired her celebrity. We can not explain how disembodied 
spirits maintain intercourse ; but it is certain that they pos- 
sess means of mutual recognition, and that they can be im- 
pressed by the presence of higher and holier intelligences. 
And as the approach of a mighty conqueror spreads dismay 
throughout the territory he invades, so when the Son of God 
appeared on earth, the devils were troubled at His presence, 
and, in the agony of their terror, proclaimed His dignity. 2 
Some influence of an analogous character operated on this 
Pythoness. The arrival of the missionaries in Philippi alarmed 
the powers of darkness, and the damsel, under the pressure of 
an impulse which she found it impossible to resist, told their 
commission. But neither the apostles, nor our Lord, cared 
for credentials of such equivocal value. As this female fol- 
lowed the strangers through the streets, and in a loud voice 
announced their errand to the city, " Paul being grieved, 
turned and said to the Spirit, I command thee, in the name 
of Jesus Christ, to come out of her, and he came out the same 
hour." 3 

The unbelieving Jews had hitherto been the great perse- 
cutors of the Church ; but now, for the first time, the apostles 
encountered opposition from another quarter ; and the expul- 
sion of the spirit from the damsel evoked the hostility of this 
new adversary. When the masters of the Pythoness " saw 
that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and 
Silas, and drew them into the market-place unto the rulers.'' 4 
We here discover one great cause of the sufferings afterward 

1 They may have perceptive powers of which we can form no conception, 
and may thus discern the approach of particular events as distinctly as we 
can now calculate the ebb and flow of the tides, or the eclipses of the sun 
and moon. 

5 Matt. viii. 28, 29 ; Mark i. 24, 25 ; Luke iv. 34, 35. 

8 Acts xvi. 18. 4 Acts xvi. 19. 






PAUL AT PHILIPPI. 83 

endured by the disciples of our Lord under the government of 
the pagan emperors. The Jews were prompted by mere 
bigotry to display hatred to the Gospel, but the Gentiles were 
generally guided by the still more ignoble principle of selfish- 
ness. Many of the heathen multitude cared little for their 
idolatrous worship ; but all who depended for subsistence on 
the prevalence of superstition, such as the image-makers, the 
jugglers, the fortune-tellers, and a considerable number of the 
priests, 1 were dismayed and driven to desperation by the prog- 
ress of Christianity. They saw that, with its success, " the 
hope of their gains was gone "; and, under pretence of zeal 
for the public interest, and for the maintenance of the " law- 
ful " ceremonies, they labored to intimidate and oppress the 
adherents of the new doctrine. 

The appearance of the missionaries at Philippi must have 
created a profound sensation, as otherwise it is impossible to 
account for the tumult which occurred. The " masters" of 
the damsel possessed of the " spirit of divination," no doubt, 
took the initiatory step in the movement ; but had not the 
public mind been in some degree prepared for their appeals, 
they could not have induced all classes of their fellow-citizens 
so soon to join in the persecution. " The multitude rose up 
together " at their call ; the duumviri, or magistrates, rent off 
the clothes of the apostles with their own hands, and com- 
manded them to be scourged ; the lictors " laid many stripes 
upon them "; they were ordered to be kept in close confine- 
ment ; and the jailer exceeded the exact letter of his instruc- 
tions by thrusting them " into the inner prison," and by mak- 
ing " their feet fast in the stocks." 2 The power of Imperial 
Rome arrayed itself against the preachers of the Gospel, and 
distinctly gave note of warning of the approach of that long 
night of affliction throughout which the Church was yet to 
struggle. 

If the proceedings of the missionaries, before their commit- 

1 In some parts of the empire magistrates and men of rank acted gratui- 
tously, but a large portion of the priests subsisted on the emoluments of 
office. 

2 Acts xvi. 24. 



84 PAUL AT PHILIPPI. 

tal to prison, produced a ferment, it is clear that the circum- 
stances attending their incarceration were not calculated to 
abate the excitement. It soon appeared that they had sources 
of enjoyment which no human authority could either destroy 
or disturb ; for as they lay in the pitchy darkness of their 
dungeon with their feet compressed in the stocks, their hearts 
overflowed with divine comfort. " At midnight Paul and 
Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners 
heard them." ' What was the wonder of the other inmates of 
the jail, as these sounds fell upon their ears ! Instead of a cry 
of distress issuing from " the inner prison," there was the 
cheerful voice of thanksgiving ! The apostles rejoiced that 
they were counted worthy to suffer in the service of Christ. 
The King of the Church sympathized with His oppressed 
saints, and speedily vouchsafed to them most wonderful 
tokens of encouragement. Scarcely had they finished their 
song of praise when it was answered by a very significant re- 
sponse, proclaiming that they were supported by a power 
which could crush the might of Rome. " Suddenly there was 
a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were 
shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and every 
one's bands were loosed. 3 

It is not improbable that the mind of the jailer had already 
been ill at ease. He must have heard of the extraordinary 
history of the damsel with the spirit of divination who an- 
nounced that his prisoners were the servants of the Most High 
God, and that they showed unto men the way of salvation. 
Rumor had supplied him with some information in reference 
to their doctrines ; and during even his short intercourse with 
Paul and Silas in the jail, he may have been impressed by 
much that he noticed in their spirit and deportment. But he 
had meanwhile gone to rest, and he remained asleep until 
roused by the noise and tremor of the earthquake. When he 
awoke and saw " the prison doors open," he was in a paroxysm 
of alarm ; and concluding that the prisoners had escaped, and 
that he might expect to be punished capitally for neglect of 
duty, he resolved to anticipate such a fate, and snatched his 

1 Acts xvi. 25. 2 Acts xvi. 26. 



PAUL AT PHILIPPI. 85 

sword to commit suicide. At this moment, a voice issuing 
from the dungeon where the missionaries were confined, dis- 
pelled his fears as to the prisoners, and arrested him almost in 
the very act of self-murder. " Paul cried with a loud voice, 
saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here." * These 
words instantaneously directed the thoughts of the unhappy 
man into another channel, and awakened feelings which had 
hitherto been comparatively dormant. The conviction flashed 
upon his conscience that the strangers whom he had so re- 
cently thrust into the inner prison were no impostors ; that 
they had, as they alleged, authority to treat of matters infi- 
nitely more important than any of the passing interests of 
time ; that they had, verily, a commission from Heaven to 
teach the way of eternal salvation ; and that he and others, 
who had taken part in their imprisonment, had acted most 
iniquitously. For what could be more evident than that the 
apostles were the servants of the Most High God ? When 
everything around them was enveloped in the gloom of mid- 
night, they were able to tell what was passing all over the 
prison. How strange that, when the jailer was about to kill 
himself, a voice should issue from a different apartment, say- 
ing, " Do thyself no harm ! " How strange that the very man 
whose feet, a few hours before, had been made fast in the 
stocks, should be the giver of this friendly counsel ! And 
how extraordinary that, during the very first night of his im- 
prisonment, the bands of all the inmates were loosed, and that 
the building was made to rock to its foundations ! Did not 
the earthquake indicate that He, whom the apostles served, 
was able to save and to destroy? When the jailer thought on 
these things, well might he be paralyzed with fear, and be- 
lieving that the apostles alone could tell him how to obtain 
relief from the anxiety which oppressed his spirit, no wonder 
that " he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, 

1 Acts xvi. 28. " By a singular historical coincidence, this very city of 
Philippi, or its neighborhood, had been signalized within a hundred years, 
not only by the great defeat of Brutus and Cassius, but by the suicide of 
both, and by a sort of wholesale self-destruction on the part of their adher- 
ents." — Alexander on the Acts, ii. 122, 123. 



S6 PAUL AT PHILIPPI. 

and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, 
and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? " 1 

The missionaries were prepared with a decisive reply to this 
earnest inquiry, and no doubt their answer took the jailer by 
surprise. He expected to be called upon to do something, 
either to propitiate the apostles themselves, or to turn away 
the wrath of the God of the apostles. It is obvious, from the 
spirit which he manifested, that, to obtain peace of conscience, 
he was ready to go very far in the way of self-sacrifice — to 
part with his property, or to imperil his life, or, perhaps, to 
give " the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul." What, 
then, was his astonishment when he found that the divine 
mercy so far transcended anything he could have possibly an- 
ticipated ! With what satisfaction did he listen to the assur- 
ance that an atonement had already been made, and that the 
sinner is safe as soon as he lays the hand of faith on the head 
of the great Sacrifice ! What was his delight when informed 
that unbelief alone could shut him out from heaven ; that the 
Son of God had died, the just for the unjust ; and that this 
almighty Saviour waited to be gracious to — himself ! How 
must the words of the apostles have thrilled through his soul, 
as he heard them repeating the invitation, " Believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." a 

The jailer joyfully accepted the proffered Deliverer ; and 
felt that, resting on this Rock of Salvation, he had peace. 
Though well aware that, by openly embracing the Gospel, he 
exposed himself to considerable danger, he did not shrink 
from the position of a confessor. The love of Christ had ob- 
tained full possession of his soul, and he was quite prepared to 
suffer in the service of his Divine Master. He took Paul and 
Silas " the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, 
and was baptized, he and all his, straightway ; and when he 
had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, 
and rejoiced, believing in God, with all his house." 3 

It is highly probable that the shock of the earthquake was 
felt beyond the precincts of the jail, and that the events which 

1 Acts xvi. 29, 30. 2 Acts xvi. 31. 3 Acts xvi. 33, 34. 



PAUL AT PHILIPPI. 87 

had occurred there had soon been communicated to the city 
authorities. We can thus best account for the fact that 
" when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, 
Let those men go." * As it is not stated that the apostles had 
previously entered into any vindication of their conduct, it 
has been thought singular that they declined to leave the 
prison without receiving an apology for the violation of their 
privileges as Roman citizens. But this matter presents no 
real difficulty. The magistrates had yielded to the clamor of 
an infuriated mob ; and, instead of giving Paul and Silas a fair 
opportunity of defence or explanation, had summarily con- 
signed them to the custody of the jailer. These functionaries 
were now prepared to listen to remonstrance; and Paul deemed 
it due to himself, and to the interests of the Christian Church, 
to complain of the illegal character of the proceedings from 
which he had suffered. He had been punished, without a 
trial ; and scourged, though a Roman citizen. 2 Hence, when 
informed that the duumviri had given orders for the liberation 
of himself and his companion, the apostle exclaimed : " They 
have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have 
cast us into prison, and now do they thrust us out privily ? 
Nay, verily, but let them come themselves, and fetch us out." 9 
These words, which were immediately reported by the sergeants, 
or lictors, inspired the magistrates with apprehension, and sug- 
gested to them the expediency of conciliation. "And they 
came " to the prison to the apostles, " and besought them, and 
brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the 
city." 4 The missionaries did not, however, leave Philippi 
until they had another opportunity of meeting with their con- 
verts. " They went out of the prison, and entered into the 
house of Lydia, and when they had seen the brethren, they 
comforted them and departed." 5 

1 Acts xvi. 35. 

2 Paul says that he was " free born " (Acts xxii. 28). It was unlawful to 
scourge a Roman citizen, or even, except in extraordinary cases, to im- 
prison him without trial. He had also the privilege of appeal to the Em- 
peror. 

3 Acts xvi. 37. « Acts xvi. 39. 6 Acts xvi. 40. 



88 PAUL AT PHILIPPI. 

On the whole, Paul and Silas had reason to thank God and 
take courage, when they reviewed their progress in the first 
European city which they visited. Though they had met 
with much opposition, their ministry had been greatly blessed ; 
and, in the end, the magistrates, who had treated them with 
such severity, had felt it necessary to apologize. The extra- 
ordinary circumstances accompanying their imprisonment had 
made their case known to the whole body of the citizens, and 
secured a degree of attention to their preaching which could 
not have been otherwise expected. The Church, now estab- 
lished at Philippi, contained a number of most generous mem- 
bers, and Paul afterward gratefully acknowledged the assist- 
ance he received from them. " Ye have well done," said 
he, " that ye did communicate with my affliction. Now, ye 
Philippians, know also, that in the beginning of the Gospel, 
when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated 
with me, as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. 
For, even in Thessalonica, ye sent once and again unto my 
necessity." ' 

1 Phil. iv. 14-16. 






CHAPTER VII. 

THE MINISTRY OF PAUL IN THESSALONICA, BEREA, ATHENS, 
AND CORINTH. 

A.D. 52 TO A.D. 54. 

AFTER leaving Philippi, and passing through Amphipolis 
and Apollonia, Paul made his way to Thessalonica. In this 
city there was a Jewish synagogue where he was permitted, for 
three successive Sabbaths, to address the congregation. His 
discourses produced a powerful impression ; as some of the 
seed of Abraham believed, " and, of the devout Greeks, a great 
multitude, and of the chief women, not a few." 1 The unbe- 
lieving Jews attempted to create annoyance by representing 
the missionaries as acting " contrary to the decrees of Caesar, 
saying, that there is another king, one Jesus"; 2 but though 
they contrived to trouble " the rulers " 3 and to "set all the city 
in an uproar," they did not succeed in preventing the formation 
of a flourishing Christian community. Paul appeared next in 
Berea, and, when reporting his success here, the sacred his- 
torian bears a remarkable testimony to the right of the laity 

1 Acts xvii. 4. 2 Acts xvii. 7. 

3 Acts xvii. 8, erdpa^av — rovg Tzalirapxag. The name here given to the 
magistrates {politarchs), does not occur in ancient literature ; but a Greek 
inscription, on an arch still to be seen at this place, demonstrates the ac- 
curacy of the sacred historian. This arch supplies evidence that it was 
erected about the time when the Republic was passing into the Empire, 
and that it was in existence when Paul preached there. It appears from it 
that the magistrates of Thessalonica were called politarchs, and that they 
were seven in number. What is almost equally striking is that three of the 
names in the inscription are Sopater, Gaius, and Secundus, the same as 
those of three of Paul's friends in this district. Conybeare and Howson, 
i. 360. 

(89) 



90 PAUL AT ATHENS. 

to judge for themselves as to the meaning of the Book of In- 
spiration ; for he states that the Jews of this place " were more 
noble than those in Thessalonica, inthat they received the word 
with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily" x 
to ascertain the truth of the apostolic doctrine. Paul was now 
" sent to go as it were to the sea," and soon afterward arrived 
at Athens. 

The ancient capital of Attica had long been the literary 
metropolis of heathendom. Its citizens could boast that they 
were sprung from a race of heroes ; as their forefathers had 
nobly struggled for freedom on many a bloody battle-field, 
and, by prodigies of valor, had maintained their independence 
against all the might of Persia. Minerva, the goddess of wis- 
dom, was their tutelary deity. The Athenians, from time im- 
memorial, had been noted for their intellectual elevation ; and 
a brilliant array of poets, legislators, historians, philosophers, 
and orators had crowned their community with immortal 
fame. Every spot connected with their city was classic 
ground. Here it was that Socrates had discoursed so sagely; 
that Plato had illustrated, with so much' felicity and genius, 
the precepts of his great master; and that Demosthenes, by 
addresses of unrivalled eloquence, had roused and agitated 
the assemblies of his countrymen. As the stranger passed 
through Athens, artistic productions of superior excellence 
everywhere met his eye. Its statues, its public monuments, 
and its temples were models alike of tasteful design and of 
beautiful workmanship. But there may be much intellectual 
culture where there is no spiritual enlightenment, and Athens, 
though so far advanced in civilization and refinement, was one 
of the high places of pagan superstition. Amidst the splendor 
of its architectural decorations, as well as surrounded with 
proofs of its scientific and literary eminence, the apostle 
mourned over its religious destitution, and " his spirit was 
stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry."* 

On this new scene Paul exhibited his usual activity and 
earnestness. " He disputed in the synagogue with the Jews, 

1 Acts xvii. ii. 2 Acts xvii. 16. 



PAUL AT ATHENS. 9 1 

and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with 
them that met with him." 1 The Christian preacher soon be- 
came an object of no little curiosity. He was of diminutive 
stature ; 2 he labored under the disadvantages of imperfect vis- 
ion ; 3 and his Palestinian Greek sounded harshly in the ears 
of those who were accustomed to speak their mother tongue 
in its Attic purity. But, though his " bodily presence was 
weak," 4 he speedily convinced those who came in contact with 
him, that the frail earthly tabernacle was the habitation of a 
master mind ; and though mere connoisseurs in idioms and 
pronunciation might designate " his speech contemptible," 5 
he riveted the attention of his hearers by the force and im- 
pressiveness of his oratory. The presence of this extraordi- 
nary stranger did not remain long unknown to the Athenian 
literati ; but, when they entered into conversation with him, 
some of them attempted to ridicule him as an idle talker, 
whilst others were inclined to denounce him as a dangerous 
innovator. " Certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of 
the Stoics encountered him ; and some said, What will this 
babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of 
strange gods, because he preached unto them Jesus and the 
resurrection." 6 Upwards of four hundred years before, Soc- 
rates had been condemned to death by the Athenians as " a 
setter forth of strange gods," 7 and perhaps some of these 
philosophers hoped to intimidate the apostle by hinting that 
he was open to the same indictment. But they could not have 
seriously contemplated a prosecution, as they had themselves 
no faith in the pagan mythology. They were quite ready to 
employ their wit to turn the heathen worship into scorn ; and 
yet they were unable to point out a "more excellent way" of 
religious service. In Athens, philosophy had demonstrated its 
utter impotence to do anything effective for the reformation 

1 Acts xvii. 17. 2 See Conybeare and Howson, i. 241. 

8 See Alford on Acts xiii. 9, and xxiii. 1. In a recent publication — Dr. 
Brown's Horce Subsecivoe, p. 1 01— the reader will find some exceedingly 
ingenious observations on this subject. 

4 2 Cor. x. 10. 5 2 Cor. x. 10. 6 Acts xvii. 18. 

7 'A.ditcei 2w/cparj?f erepa 6e tcaiva datftovta eta^epuv. — Xen. Mem. i. 1, 



92 PAUL AT ATHENS. 

of the popular theology ; and its professors had settled down 
into the conviction that, as the current superstition exercised 
an immense influence over the minds of the multitude, it was 
inexpedient for wise men to withhold from it the tribute of 
outward reverence. The discourses of Paul were very far from 
complimentary to parties who valued themselves so highly on 
their intellectual advancement ; for he quietly ignored all their 
speculations as so much folly ; and, whilst he propounded his 
own system with the utmost confidence, he supported it by 
arguments which they were determined to reject, but unable 
to overturn. It is clear that they were to some extent under 
the influence of pique and irritation when they noticed his 
deviations from the established faith, and applied to him the 
epithet of "babbler"; but Paul was not the man to be put 
down either by irony or insult ; and at length it was found 
necessary to allow him a fair opportunity of explaining his 
principles. It is accordingly stated that " they took him and 
brought him unto Mars' Hill, saying, May we know what this 
new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is, for thou bringest cer- 
tain strange things to our ears? we would know, therefore, 
what these things mean." ' 

The speech delivered by Paul on this memorable occasion 
has been often admired for its tact, vigor, depth, and fidelity. 
Whilst giving the Athenians full credit for their devotional 
feeling, and avoiding any pointed and sarcastic attack on the 
absurdities of their religious ritual, he contrives to present 
such an outline of the prominent features of the Christian rev- 
elation, as must have convinced any candid and intelligent au- 
ditor of its incomparable superiority, as well to the doctrines 
of the philosophers as to the fables of heathenism. In the 
very commencement of his observations he displays no little 
address. u Ye men of Athens," said he, " I perceive that in 
every point of view ye are carrying your religious reverence 
very far; for, as I passed by and observed the objects of your 
worship, I found an altar with this inscription : To the un- 
known God — whom, therefore, ye worship, though ye know 

1 Acts xvii. 19, 20. It is very evident that he was not arraigned before 
the court of Areopagus, as our English translation indicates. 



PAUL AT ATHENS. 93 

him not, him declare I unto you." 1 The existence in this 
city of inscriptions, such as that here given, is attested by sev- 
eral other ancient witnesses 2 as well as Paul ; and the altars 
thus distinguished were erected when the place was afflicted 
by certain strange and unprecedented calamities which the 
deities, already recognized, were admitted to be unable to re- 
move. The auditors of the apostle could not well be dissatis- 
fied with the statement that they carried their " religious rev- 
erence very far," and yet they were scarcely prepared for the 
reference to this altar by which the observation was illustra- 
ted ; for the inscription which he quoted contained a most 
humiliating confession of their ignorance, and furnished him 
with an excellent apology for proposing to act as their theo- 
logical instructor. 

His discourse, which treats of the Being and Attributes of 
God, was well fitted to win the attention of the polite and in- 
telligent Athenians. Its reasoning is plain, pertinent, and 
powerful ; and, whilst adopting a didactic tone and avoiding 
the language and spirit of controversy, the apostle in every 
sentence comes into direct collision either with the errors of 
polytheism or the dogmas of the Grecian philosophy. The 
Stoics were Pantheists and held the doctrine of the eternity 
of matter ; 3 the Epicureans maintained that the universe arose 
out of a fortuitous concurrence of atoms ; 4 and, therefore, 
Paul announced his opposition to both these sects when he 
declared that " God made the world and all things therein." 6 
The Athenians boasted that they were of nobler descent than 
the rest of their countrymen ; a and the heathen generally be- 

1 Acts xvii. 22, 23. This translation obviously conveys the meaning of 
the original more distinctly than our English version. See Alford, ii. 178; 
and Conybeare and Howson, i. 406. 

2 It is a curious fact that the impostor Apollonius, of Tyana, who was the 
contemporary of the apostle, speaks of Athens as a place " where altars are 
raised to the unknown Gods." " Life," by Philostratus, book vi., c. 3. See 
also Pausanias, Attic, i. 4. 

3 See Cud worth's " Intellectual System," with Notes by Mosheim, i. 513, 
III. Edition, London, 1845. 

4 See Mosheim's "Commentaries on the Affairs of the Christians before 
Constantine," by Vidal, i. 42. 

5 Acts xvii. 24. 6 See Alford on Acts xvii. 26. 



94 PAUL AT ATHENS. 

lieved that each nation belonged to a distinct stock and was 
under the guardianship of its own peculiar deities ; but the 
apostle affirmed that "God hath made of one blood all nations 
of men to dwell on all the face of the earth." ' The Epicure- 
ans asserted that the gods did not interfere in the concerns of 
the human family, and that they were destitute of foreknowl- 
edge ; but Paul here assured them that the great Creator 
"giveth to all life and breath and all things," and "hath de- 
termined the times before appointed and the bounds of their 
habitation." 2 The heathen imagined that the gods inhabited 
their images ; but, whilst Paul was ready to acknowledge the 
excellence as works of art of the statues which he saw all 
around him, he distinctly intimated that these dead pieces of 
material mechanism could never even faintly represent the 
glory of the invisible First Cause, and that they were unwor- 
thy the homage of living and intellectual beings. " As we 
are the offspring of God," said he, "we ought not to think 
that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven 
by art and man's device." 3 After having thus borne testi- 
mony to the spirituality of the I AM THAT I AM, and as- 
serted His authority as the Maker and Preserver of the world, 
Paul proceeded to point out His claims as its righteous Gov- 
ernor. " He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge 
the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath or- 
dained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that 
he hath raised him from the dead." 4 

The pleasure-loving Epicureans refused to believe in a fut- 
ure state of rewards and punishments, and concurred with the 
Stoics in denying the immortality of the soul. 6 Both these 
parties were prepared to reject the doctrine of a general judg- 
ment. The idea of the resurrection of the body was quite 
novel to almost all classes of the Gentiles ; and, when at first 
propounded to the Athenians, was received by many with 
doubt and by some with ridicule. " When they heard of the 

1 Acts xvii. 26. 2 Acts xvii. 25, 26. 

3 Acts xvii. 29. 4 Acts xvii. 31. 

* Cudworth, with Notes by Mosheim, ii. 120, and Mosheim's "Commen- 
taries," by Vidal, i. 42. 



PAUL AT CORINTH. 95 

resurrection of the dead, some mocked and others said, We 
will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from 
among them." 1 

The frivolous spirit cherished by the citizens of the ancient 
capital of Attica was exceedingly unfavorable to the progress 
of the earnest faith of Christianity. " All the Athenians, and 
strangers which were there, spent their time in nothing else 
but either to tell or to hear some new thing." 2 Though they 
had acquired a world-wide reputation for literary culture, their 
city continued for several centuries afterward to be one of the 
strongholds of Gentile superstition. But the labors of Paul 
were not entirely unproductive. " Certain men clave unto 
him and believed, among the which was Dionysius the Areop- 
agite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them." 3 
The court of Areopagus, long the highest judicial tribunal in 
the place, had not even yet entirely lost its celebrity ; and the 
circumstance that Dionysius was connected with it is a proof 
that this Christian convert was a respectable and influential 
citizen. He occupied a very high place among the primitive 
disciples, and the number of spurious writings ascribed to him 4 
show that his name was deemed a tower of strength to the 
cause with which it was associated. He was long at the head 
of the Athenian presbytery, and survived his conversion forty 
years, or till the time of the Domitian persecution. 5 

From Athens Paul directed his steps to Corinth, where he 
arrived in the autumn of A.D. 52. Nearly two hundred years 
before, this city had been completely destroyed ; but after a 
century of desolation it had been rebuilt ; and, having since 
rapidly increased, it was now flourishing and populous. As a 
place of trade, its position near an isthmus of the same name 
gave it immense advantages ; for it had a harbor on each side, 
so that it was the central depot of the commerce of the East 
and West. Its inhabitants valued themselves much on their 

1 Acts xvii. 32. 2 Acts xvii. 21. 3 Acts xvii. 34. 

4 These writings, which made their appearance not earlier than the 
fourth or fifth century, were held in great reputation, particularly by the 
Mystics, in the Middle Ages. 

5 Barton's " Lectures," i. 183. 



g6 PAUL AT CORINTH. 

attainments in philosophy and general literature ; but, whilst 
by traffic they had succeeded in acquiring wealth, they had 
given way to the temptations of luxury and licentiousness. 
Corinth was at this time one of the most dissolute cities of 
the Empire. It was the capital of the large province of 
Achaia, and the residence of the Roman proconsul. 

Paul, when at Athens, adapted his style of instruction to the 
character of his auditors, and was thus obliged to occupy much 
of his time in discussing the principles of natural religion. He 
endeavored to gain over the citizens by showing them that 
their views of the Godhead could not stand the test of a vig- 
orous and discriminating logic, and that Christianity alone 
rested on a sound philosophical foundation. But the exposi- 
tion of a pure system of theism had comparatively little in- 
fluence on the hearts and consciences of these system-builders. 
Considering the time and skill devoted to its culture, Athens 
had yielded less spiritual fruit than any field of labor on which 
he had yet operated. When he arrived in Corinth, he re- 
solved, therefore, to avoid, as much as possible, mere meta- 
physical argumentation, and sought rather to stir up sinners 
to flee from the wrath to come, by pressing home upon them 
earnestly the peculiar doctrines of revelation. In the first 
epistle, addressed subsequently to the Church established in 
this place, he thus describes the spirit in which he conducted 
his apostolical ministrations. " And I, brethren," says N he, 
" when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or 
of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God, for I 
determined not to know anything among you save Jesus 
Christ and him crucified ; and my speech and my preaching 
was, not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demon- 
stration of the Spirit and of power ; that your faith should 
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." x 

The result demonstrated that the apostle thus pursued the 
most effective mode of advancing the Christian cause. It 
might, indeed, have been thought that Corinth was a very 
ungenial soil for the Gospel, as Venus was the favorite deity 

1 i Cor. ii. i, 2, 4, 5. 



PAUL AT CORINTH. 97 

of the place ; and a thousand priestesses, or, in other words, 
a thousand prostitutes, were employed in the celebration of 
her orgies. 1 The inhabitants generally were sunk in the very 
depths of moral pollution. But the preaching of the Cross 
produced a powerful impression even in this hotbed of in- 
iquity. Notwithstanding the enmity of the Jews, who " op- 
posed themselves and blasphemed," 3 Paul succeeded in col- 
lecting here a large and prosperous congregation. " Many 
of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized." * 
Most of the converts were in very humble circumstances, and 
hence the apostle says to them in his first epistle, "Ye see 
your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the 
flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called "; 4 but 
still a few persons of distinction united themselves to the 
despised community. Erastus, the chamberlain, or treasurer, 
of the city, was among the disciples. 5 This civic functionary 
may have joined the Church at a later date ; but, even now, 
Paul was encouraged by the accession of some remarkable 
converts. Of these the most conspicuous was Crispus, " the 
chief ruler of the synagogue/' who, "with all his house," sub- 
mitted to baptism. 6 About the same time Gaius, an opulent 
citizen, who rendered good service to the common cause by 
his Christian hospitality, 7 openly embraced the Gospel. Two 
other converts, who are often honorably mentioned in the 
New Testament, were now likewise added to the infant 
Church. These were Aquila and Priscilla. 8 Some have, in* 
deed, maintained that this couple had been already baptized ; 
but, on the arrival of Paul in Corinth, Aquila is represented 
as a Jew 9 — a designation not descriptive of his position had he 
been previously a believer — and therefore the conversion of 
himself and his excellent partner must have occurred at this 
period. 

1 Strabo, lib. viii. vol. i., p. 549 ; Edit. Oxon. 1807. 

2 Acts xviii. 6. 3 Acts xviii. 8. 4 1 Cor. i. 26. 
6 Rom. xvi. 23. This epistle was written from Corinth. 

8 Acts xviii. 8. 7 1 Cor. i. 14 ; Rom. xvi. 23. 

8 Acts xviii. 2, 26 ; Rom. xvi. 3 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 19; 2 Tim. iv. 19. 

9 Acts xviii. 2. 



98 PAUL AT CORINTH. 

In this city, as well as in many other places, the apostle 
supported himself by the labor of his own hands. It was cus- 
tomary, even for Israelites in easy circumstances, to train up 
their children to some mechanical employment, so that should 
they sink into penury, they could still, by manual industry, 
procure a livelihood. 1 Paul had been taught the trade of a 
tent-maker, or manufacturer of awnings of haircloth — articles 
much used in the East as a protection against the rays of the 
sun, by travellers and mariners. It was in connection with 
this occupation that he became acquainted with Aquila and 
Priscilla. " Because he was of the same craft, he abode with 
them, and wrought." 2 The Jew and his wife had probably a 
large manufactory, and thus could furnish the apostle with 
remunerative employment. When under their roof, he did 
not neglect the opportunities he enjoyed of presenting the 
Gospel to their attention, and both soon became his ardent 
and energetic coadjutors in missionary service. 

The conduct of Paul in working with his own hands, when 
engaged in the dissemination of the Gospel, is a noble exam- 
ple of Christian self-denial. He could, it appears, expect lit- 
tle assistance from the mother church of Antioch ; and had 
he, in the first instance, demanded support from those to 
whom he ministered, he exposed himself and his cause to the 
utmost suspicion. In a commercial city, such as Corinth, he 
would have been regarded by many as a mere adventurer who 
had resorted to a new species of speculation in the hope of 
obtaining a maintenance. His disinterested behavior placed 
him at once beyond the reach of this imputation ; and his in- 
tense love to Christ prepared him to make the sacrifice, which 
the course he thus adopted required. And what a proof of 
the humility of Paul that he cheerfully labored for his daily 
bread at the trade of a tent-maker! The Rabbi once admired 
for his genius and his learning by the most distinguished of 

1 " Rabbi Judah saith, ' He that teacheth not his son a trade, doth the 
same as if he taught him to be a thief; and Rabban Gamaliel saith, ' He 
that hath a trade in his hand, to what is he like ? He is like a vineyard 
that is fenced.' " — See Alfordon Acts, xviii. 3. 

a Acts xviii. 3. 



PAUL AT CORINTH. 99 

his countrymen — who had sat among the members of the 
great Sanhedrim — and who might have legitimately aspired 
to be the son-in-law of the High-Priest of Israel 1 — was now 
content to toil " night and day " at a menial occupation, sit- 
ting among the workmen of Aquila and Priscilla ! How like 
to Him who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became 
poor, that we, through His poverty, might be rich ! 

Paul was well aware of the importance of Corinth as a cen- 
tre of missionary influence. Strangers from the East passed 
through it on their way to Rome, and travellers from the 
Western metropolis stopped here on their way to Asia Minor, 
Palestine, or Syria, so that it was one of the greatest thor- 
oughfares in the Empire ; and, as a commercial mart, it was 
second to very few cities in the world. The apostle therefore 
saw that if a Church could be firmly planted in this busy cap- 
ital, it would scatter the seeds of truth to all the ends of the 
earth. We may thus understand why he remained in Corinth 
so much longer than in any other place he had yet visited 
since his departure from Antioch. " He continued there a 
year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them." a 
He was encouraged by a special communication from Heaven 
to prosecute his labors with zeal and diligence. " The Lord 
spake to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but 
speak, and hold not thy peace : for I am with thee, and no 
man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in 
this city." 3 

Though the ministry of the apostle was attended with such 
remarkable success, his converts did not all continue to walk 
worthy of their profession. But if in the Church of this flour- 
ishing mercantile metropolis there were greater disorders than 
in perhaps any other of the early Christian communities, 4 the 
explanation is obvious. Even in a degenerate age Corinth 
was notorious for its profligacy; and it would have been 
indeed marvellous if excesses had not been occasionally 
committed by some of the members of a religious soci- 

1 Epiphanius, "Haer," xxx. 16. 2 Acts xviii. 11. 3 Acts xviii 9, io« 
4 See 1 Cor. i. 11, and xi. 20, 21 ; and 2 Cor. xii. 21 ; and xiii. 2. 



103 PAUL AT CORINTH. 

ety composed, to a considerable extent, of reclaimed lib- 
ertines. 1 

The success of the Gospel in Corinth roused the unbelieving 
Jews to opposition ; and here, as elsewhere, they endeavored 
to avail themselves of the aid of the civil power ; but in this in- 
stance, their appeal to the Roman magistrate was signally un- 
successful. Gallio, brother of the celebrated Seneca, the phi- 
losopher, was " the deputy of Achaia "; 2 and when the bigoted 
and incensed Israelites " made insurrection with one accord 
against Paul, and brought him to the judgment-seat, saying, 
This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the 
law" 3 the proconsul turned a deaf ear to the accusation. 
When the apostle was about to enter on his defence, Gallio in- 
timated that such a proceeding was quite unnecessary, as the 
affair did not come within the range of his jurisdiction. " If," 
said he, " it were a matter of wrong, or wicked lewdness, O ye 
Jews, reason would that I should bear with you ; but if it 
be a question of words and names and of your law, look ye to 
it, for I will be no judge of such matters. And he drave them 
from the judgment-seat." 4 On this occasion, for the first time 
since the arrival of Paul and his brethren in Europe, the mob 
was on the side of the missionaries, and under the very eye of 
the proconsul, and without any effort on his part to interfere 
and arrest their violence, the most prominent of the plaintiffs 
was somewhat roughly handled. " Then all the Greeks took 
Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him be- 
fore the judgment-seat And Gallio cared for none of these 
things." 5 

When Paul was at Corinth, and probably in A.D. 53, he wrote 
his two earliest letters ; that is, the First and Second Epistles 
to the Thessalonians. These communications were, therefore, 
drawn up about twelve months after the original formation of 
the religious community to which they are addressed. The 
Thessalonian Church was already fully organized, as the apos- 
tle here points out to the disciples their duties to those who 

i See 1 Cor. vi. 9-1 1. 2 Acts xviii. 12. 3 Acts xviii. 13. 

*Acts xviii. 14-16. 6 Acts xviii. 17. 



PAUL AT CORINTH. IOI 

labored among them and who were over them in the Lord. 1 
Several errors had gained currency; and a letter, announc- 
ing that the day of Christ was at hand, and purporting to have 
been penned by Paul himself, had thrown the brethren into 
great consternation. 2 The apostle accordingly deemed it nec- 
essary to interpose, and to point out the dangerous character 
of the doctrines which had been so industriously promulgated. 
He now, too, delivered his famous prophecy announcing the 
revelation of the "Man of Sin" before the second coming of 
the Redeemer. 3 Almost all the members of the Thessalonian 
Church were converted Gentiles, 4 who were still but little ac- 
quainted with the Jewish Scriptures ; and this is, perhaps, the 
reason why there is no quotation from the Old Testament in 
either of these letters. Even the Gospels were not yet written, 
and hence Paul exhorts the brethren " to hold fast the tradi- 
tions," or rather " ordinances," 5 which they had been taught, 
"whether by word or his epistle." 6 

*i Thess. v. 12, 13. 2 2 Thess. ii. 2. 3 2 Thess. ii. 3-12. 

4 I Thess. i. 9. 5 Tag Trapadoaetg. 

6 2 Thess. ii. 15. Paul is here speaking - , not of what had been handed 
down from preceding generations, but of what had been established by his 
own apostolic authority, so that the rendering " traditions " in our English 
version is a peculiarly unhappy translation. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CONVERSION OF APOLLOS, 

MINISTRY OF PAUL IN EPHESUS. 

A.D. 54 TO A.D. 57. 

The apostle " took his leave " ' of the Corinthian brethren 
in the spring of A.D. 54, and embarking at the port of Cenchrea, 
about eight or nine miles distant, set sail for Ephesus. The 
navigation among the islands of the Archipelago was some- 
what intricate; and the voyage not unfrequently occupied 
from ten to fifteen days. 2 At Ephesus Paul "entered into the 
synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews." 3 His statements 
produced a favorable impression, and he was solicited to pro- 
long his visit ; but as he was on his way to Jerusalem, and anx- 
ious to be present at the approaching feast of Pentecost, he 
could only assure them of his intention to return, and then bid 
them farewell. He left behind him, however, in this great city 
his two Corinthian converts, Aquila and Priscilla, who carried 
on with industry and success the work which he had com- 
menced so auspiciously. Among the first-fruits of their pious 
care for the spread of Christianity was the famous Apollos, an 
Alexandrian Jew, who now arrived in the metropolis of the 
Proconsular Asia. 

The seed of Abraham in the birthplace of Apollos spoke the 
Greek language, and occupied a peculiar position. They were 
free from some of the prejudices of the Jews in Palestine ; and, 
though living in the midst of a heathen population, had advan- 
tages enjoyed by very few of their brethren scattered elsewhere 
among the Gentiles. At Alexandria their sumptuous syna- 

1 Acts xviii. 18. 2 See Conybeare and Howson, i. 454. 8 Acts xviii. 19 
(102) 



APOLLOS. 103 

gogues were unequivocal evidences of their wealth ; they con- 
stituted a large and influential section of the inhabitants ; they 
had much political power ; and, whilst their study of the Greek 
philosophy had modified their habits of thought, they had ac- 
quired a taste for the cultivation of eloquence and literature. 
Apollos, the Jew, "born at Alexandria," 1 who became ac- 
quainted with Aquila and Priscilla, was an educated and accom- 
plished man. He " was instructed in the way of the Lord, and 
being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the 
things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John."* The 
influence of the preaching of the Baptist is seen in this inci- 
dental notice ; for though the forerunner of our Saviour had 
finished his career a quarter of a century, the Alexandrian Jew 
was only one of many still living witnesses to testify that he 
had not ministered in vain. In this case John had indeed " pre- 
pared the way " of his Master, as, under the tuition of Aquila 
and Priscilla, Apollos was led without difficulty to embrace the 
Christian doctrine. 'This pious couple "took him unto them, 
and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly." 8 
Priscilla was no less distinguished than her husband 4 for intel- 
ligence and zeal ; and though she was prevented, as much by 
her native modesty, as by the constitution of the Church, 8 
from officiating as a public instructor, she was " apt to teach "; 
and there must have been something most interesting and im- 
pressive in her private conversation. How remarkable that 
one of the ablest preachers of the apostolic age was largely in- 
debted to a female for his acquaintance with Christian theology ! 
The accession, at this juncture, of such a convert as Apollos 
contributed greatly to advance the evangelical cause. The 
Church of Corinth, in the absence of Paul, much required the 
services of a minister of superior ability; and the learned 
Alexandrian was eminently qualified to promote its edification. 
He was " an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures." 6 
After sojourning some time at Ephesus, it occurred to him 

1 Acts xviii. 24. 2 Acts xviii. 25. 3 Acts xviii. 26. 

4 She is named before Aquila in Acts xviii. 18 ; Rom. xvi. 3 ; and 2 Tim. 
iv. 19. 

6 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35 ; 1 Tim. ii. 12. 9 Acts xviii. 24. 



104 PAUL AT EPHESUS. 

that he should have a more extensive sphere of usefulness at 
Corinth ; and " when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the 
brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him." * His 
friends in Asia had formed no exaggerated idea of his gifts 
and acquirements. When he reached the Greek capital, he 
" helped them much which had believed through grace ; for 
he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing 
by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ." 2 His surpassing 
rhetorical ability soon proved a snare to some of the hyper- 
critical Corinthians, and tempted them to institute invidious 
comparison between him and their great apostle. Hence in 
the first epistle addressed to them, the writer finds it neces 
sary to rebuke them for their folly and fastidiousness. 
" While one saith I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, 
are ye," says he, " not carnal ? Who then is Paul, and who is 
Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord 
gave to every man ? I have planted, Apollos watered, but 
God gave the increase." 3 

When Aquila and Priscilla were at Ephesus expounding 
" the way of God more perfectly " to the Jew of Alexandria, 
Paul was travelling to Jerusalem. Three years before, he had 
been there to confer with the apostles and elders concerning 
the circumcision of the Gentiles ; and he had not since visited 
the holy city. His present stay was short — apparently not 
extending beyond a few days at the time of the feast of Pen- 
tecost, — and giving him a very brief opportunity of inter- 
course with his brethren of the Jewish capital. He then 
" went down to Antioch " * — a place with which from the 
commencement of his missionary career he had been more in- 
timately associated. "After he had spent some time there, 
he departed and went over all the country of Galatia and 
Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples." 5 On a 
former occasion, after he had passed through the same dis- 
tricts, he had been " forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach 
the word in (the Proconsular) Asia "; 6 but, at this time, the 
restriction was removed, and in accordance with the promise 

1 Acts xviii. 27. 3 Acts xviii. 27, 28. s 1 Cor. iii. 4-5. 

4 Acts xviii. 22. 5 Acts xviii. 23. 6 Acts xvi. 6. 



PAUL AT EPHESUS. 105 

made to the Jews at Ephesus in the preceding spring, he now 
resumed his evangelical labors in that far-famed metropolis. 
There must have been a strong disposition on the part of 
many of the seed of Abraham in the place to attend to his 
instructions, as he was permitted " for the space of three 
mouths" to occupy the synagogue, " disputing and persuading 
the things concerning the kingdom of God." 1 At length, 
however, he began to meet with so much opposition that he 
found it expedient to discontinue his addresses in the Jewish 
meeting-house. " When divers were hardened and believed 
not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he de- 
parted from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily 
in the school of one Tyrannus." a This Tyrannus was, prob- 
ably, a Gentile convert, and a teacher of rhetoric — a depart- 
ment of education very much cultivated at that period by all 
youths anxious to attain social distinction. What is here 
called his " school," was a spacious lecture-room sufficient to 
accommodate a numerous auditory. 

About this time the Epistle to the Galatians was written. 
The Galatians, as their name indicated, were the descendants 
of a colony of Gauls settled in Asia Minor several centuries 
before ; and, like the French of the present day, were distin- 
guished by their lively and mercurial temperament. Paul had 
recently visited their country for the second time, 3 and had 
been received by them with the warmest demonstrations of 
regard ; but meanwhile Judaizing zealots had appeared among 
them, and had been only too successful in their efforts to in- 
duce them to observe the Mosaic ceremonies. The apostle, 
at Antioch, and at the synod of Jerusalem, had already pro- 
tested against these attempts ; and subsequent reflection had 
only more thoroughly convinced him of their danger. Hence 
he here addresses the Galatians in terms of unusual severity. 

1 Acts xix. 8. a Acts xix. 9. 

3 That this epistle was written after the second visit appears from Gal. iv. 
13. Mr. Ellicott asserts that "the first time " is here the preferable transla- 
tion of rb irporepov, and yet, rather inconsistently, adds, that " no historical 
conclusions can safely be drawn from this expression alone." See his 
"Critical and Grammatical Commentary on Galatians," iv. 13. 



106 PAUL AT EPHESUS. 

" I marvel," he exclaims, " that ye are so soon removed from 
him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gos- 
pel " — " O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that ye 
should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ 
hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you ? " * At 
the same time he proves that the sinner is saved by faith 
alone ; that the Mosaic institutions were designed merely for 
the childhood of the Church ; and that the disciples of Jesus 
should refuse to be " entangled " with any such " yoke of 
bondage/' a 'His epistle throughout is a most emphatic testi- 
mony to the doctrine of a free justification. 

Some time after Paul reached Ephesus, on his return from 
Jerusalem, he made a short visit to Corinth. 3 He encoun. 
tered a variety of dangers of which no record is to be found 
in the Acts of the Apostles ; 4 and it is probable that many of 
these disasters were experienced at this period. Thus, not 
long after this date, he says, " Thrice I suffered shipwreck, a 
night and a day I have been in the deep." 5 There are good 
grounds for believing that he now visited Crete, as well as 
Corinth ; and that these voyages exposed him to the " perils 
in the sea " which he enumerates among his trials. 8 On his 
departure from Crete he left Titus behind him to " set in 
order the things that were wanting, and to ordain elders in 
every city "; 7 and in the spring of A.D. 57 he wrote to the 
evangelist that brief epistle in which he points out, with so 
much fidelity and wisdom, the duties of the pastoral office. 8 
The silence of Luke respecting this visit to Crete is the less 
remarkable, as the name of Titus does not once occur in the 

1 Gal. i. 6, iii. 1. 2 Gal. ii. 16, iv. 1-4, v. 1. 

3 1 Cor. xvi. 7 ; 2 Cor. xii. 14, xiii. 1. 

4 The Acts take no notice of various parts of his early career as a preacher. 
Compare Acts ix. 20-26 with Gal. i. 17. 

6 2 Cor. xi. 25. 6 2 Cor. xi. 26. 7 Titus i. 5. 

8 See Titus i. 6-1 1, ii. 1, 7, 8, 15, iii. 8-1 1. The reasons assigned in sup- 
port of a later date for the writing of this epistle are not at all satisfactory. 
Paul directs the evangelist (Titus iii. 12) to come to him to Nicopolis, for 
he had " determined there to winter." This Nicopolis was in Greece, in 
the province of Achaia, and we know that Paul wintered there A.D. 57- 
58, Acts xx. 2, 3. See Schaff's " Apostolic Church," i. 390. 



PAUL AT EPHESUS. 10/ 

book of the Acts, though there is distinct evidence that he 
was deeply interested in some of the most important transac- 
tions which are there narrated. 1 

Paul, two years before, had been prevented, as has been 
stated, by a divine intimation, from preaching in the district 
called Asia ; but when he now commenced his ministra- 
tions in Ephesus, its capital, he continued in that city and 
its neighborhood longer than in any other place he had yet 
visited. After withdrawing from the synagogue and resum- 
ing his labors in the school of Tyrannus, he remained there 
" by the space of two years ; so that all they which dwelt 
in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and 
Greeks." a Meanwhile the churches of Laodicea, Colosse, and 
Hierapolis were founded. 3 The importance of Ephesus gave 
it a special claim to the attention it now received. Being the 
metropolis of the district, and the greatest commercial city in 
the whole of Asia Minor, it was connected by convenient 
roads with all parts of the interior, and visited by trading ves- 
sels from the various harbors of the Mediterranean. But, in 
another point of view, it presented a peculiarly interesting 
field of missionary labor; for it was, perhaps, the most cele- 
brated of all the high places of Eastern superstition. Its 
temple of Artemis, or Diana, was one of the wonders of the 
world. This gorgeous structure, covering an area of upwards 
of two acres, 4 was ornamented with columns, one hundred and 
twenty-seven in number, each sixty feet high, and each the gift 
of a king. 5 Though nearly all open to the sky, part of it was 
covered and roofed with cedar. The image of the goddess oc- 
cupied a comparatively small apartment within the magnifi- 
cent enclosure. This image, said to have fallen down from 
Jupiter, 6 was not like one of those pieces of beautiful sculpture 

1 2 Cor. ii. 13, vii. 6, 13, viii. 6, 16, 23, xii. 18 ; Gal. ii. 1, 3. 

3 Acts xix. 10. 

s See Col. iv. 13, 15, 16. These churches were not, however, founded by 
Paul. See Col. ii. 1. 

4 " This was the largest of the Greek temples. The area of the Parthenon 
at Athens was not one-fourth of that of the temple of Ephesus." — Smith's 
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, Art. EPHESUS. 

6 Conybeare and Howson, ii. 72. 6 Acts xix. 35. 



108 PAUL AT EPHESUS. 

which adorned the Acropolis of Athens, but rather resembled 
an Indian idol, being an unsightly female form with many 
breasts, made of wood, and terminating below in a shapeless 
block. 1 On several parts of it were engraved mysterious sym- 
bols, called " Ephesian letters." 2 These letters, when pro- 
nounced, were believed to operate as charms, and, when writ- 
ten, were carried about as amulets. To those who sought an 
acquaintance with the Ephesian magic, they constituted an 
elaborate study, and many books were composed to expound 
their significance, and point out their application. 

About this time the famous Apollonius of Tyana 3 was at- 
tracting uncommon attention by his tricks as a conjuror, and 
it is not improbable that he now met Paul in Ephesus. If so, 
we can assign at least one reason why the apostle was prevent- 
ed from making his appearance at an earlier date in the Asiat- 
ic metropolis. Men had thus an opportunity of comparing 
the wonders of the greatest of magicians with the miracles of 
the Gospel, and of marking the contrast between the vainglory 
of an impostor, and the humility of a servant of Jesus. The 
attentive reader of Scripture may observe that some of the 
most extraordinary of the mighty works recorded in the New 
Testament were performed at this period, and it is not un- 
reasonable to conclude that, in a city so much given to jug- 
glery and superstition, these genuine displays of the power of 
Omnipotence were exhibited for the express purpose of dem- 
onstrating the incomparable superiority of the Author of 
Christianity. " God wrought special miracles by the hands of 
Paul, so that from his body were brought unto the sick hand- 
kerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and 
the evil spirits went out of them." * The disastrous conse- 
quences of an attempt, on the part of the sons of a Jewish 

1 Conybeare and Howson, iu 73. Minucius Felix, in his Octavius, speaks 
of Diana as represented " at Ephesus with many distended breasts ranged 
in tiers." 

2 Conybeare and Howson, ii. 13. 

3 His Life, written by Philostratus about A.D. 210, is full of lying wonders. 
His biographer mentions his visit to Ephesus, book iv. 1. 

4 Acts xix. 11, 12. 



PAUL AT EPHESUS. IO9 

priest, to heal the afflicted by using the name of the Lord 
Jesus as a charm, alarmed the entire tribe of exorcists and 
magicians. " The man, in whom the evil spirit was, leaped 
on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so 
that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this 
was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephe- 
sus, and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus 
was magnified." * The visit of Paul told upon the whole pop- 
ulation, and tended greatly to discourage the study of the 
" Ephesian letters." " Many of them also, which used curious 
arts, brought their books together and burned them before all 
men ; and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty 
thousand pieces of silver. a So mightily grew the word of God 
and prevailed." 3 

Some time before the departure of Paul from Ephesus, he 
wrote the First Epistle to the Corinthians. The latter con- 
tains internal evidence that it was dictated in the spring of 
A.D. 57.* The circumstances of the Corinthian disciples at this 
juncture imperatively required the interference of the apostle. 
Divisions had sprung up in their community ; 5 the flagrant 
conduct of one member had brought dishonor on the whole 
Christian name ; c and various forms of error had been making 
their appearance. 7 Paul therefore felt it right to address to 
them a lengthened and energetic remonstrance. This letter is 
more diversified in its contents than any of his other epistles ; 
and presents us with a very interesting view of the daily life of 
the primitive Christians in a great commercial city. It fur- 

1 Acts xix. 16, 17. 

2 The piece of silver here mentioned was worth about tenpence, s© that 
the estimated value of the books burned was nearly §10,000. 

3 Acts xix. 19, 20. 

4 It was written not long before Paul left Ephesus, and probably about 
the time of the Passover. 1 Cor. v. 7, xvi. 5-8. 

5 1 Cor. i. 11. 6 1 Cor. v. 1. 

7 1 Cor. xv. 12. This passage supplies evidence that errorists very soon 
made their appearance in the Christian Church, and furnishes an answer to 
those chronologists who date all the Pastoral Epistles after Paul's release 
from his first imprisonment, on the ground that the Gnostics had no exist- 
ence at an earlier period. 



110 PAUL AT EPHESUS. 

nishes conclusive evidence that the Apostolic Church of Corinth 
was — not the paragon of excellence which the ardent and un- 
reflecting have often pictured in their imaginations — but a 
community compassed with infirmities, and certainly not ele- 
vated, in point of spiritual worth, above some of the more 
healthy Christian congregations of the nineteenth century. 

Shortly after this letter was transmitted to its destination, 
Ephesus was thrown into a ferment by the riotous proceedings 
of certain parties who had an interest in the maintenance of 
the pagan superstition. Among those who derived a subsist- 
ence from the idolatry of its celebrated temple were a class of 
workmen who " made silver shrines for Diana," ' that is, who 
manufactured little models of the sanctuary and of the image 
which it contained. These models were carried about by the 
devotees of the goddess in processions, and set up, in private 
dwellings, as household deities. 2 The impression produced by 
the Christian missionaries in the Asiatic metropolis had affect- 
ed the traffic in such articles, and those who were engaged in 
it began to apprehend that their trade would be ultimately 
ruined. An individual, named Demetrius, who appears to 
have been a master-manufacturer, did not find it difficult, un- 
der these circumstances, to collect a mob, and to disturb the 
peace of the city. Calling together the operatives of his own 
establishment, " with the workmen of like occupation," 3 he said 
to them, " Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our 
wealth. Moreover, ye see and know that not alone at Ephe- 
sus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded 
and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods 
which are made with hands — so that not only this our craft is 
in danger to be set at nought, but also that the temple of the 
great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence 
should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship- 
ped." * This address did not fail to produce the effect con- 
templated. A strong current of indignation was turned against 
the missionaries, and the craftsmen, with shouts of uproar, 
supported the credit of their tutelary guardian. They were 

1 Acts xix. 24. 2 Conybeare and Howson, ii. 74. 

3 Acts xix. 25. 4 Acts. xix. 25-27. 



PAUL AT EPHESUS. Ill 

" full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the 
Ephesians." 1 This proceeding took place in the month of 
May, and at a time when public games were celebrated in 
honor of the Ephesian goddess, 2 so that a large concourse of 
strangers now thronged the metropolis. An immense crowd 
rapidly collected ; the whole city was filled with confusion ; 
and the lives of the Christian preachers were in danger ; for 
the mob caught " Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, 
Paul's companions in travel," and " rushed with one accord into 
the theatre." 3 This edifice, the largest of the kind in Asia 
Minor, was capable of containing thirty thousand persons. 4 
As it was sufficiently capacious to accommodate the multitudi- 
nous assemblage, and the building in which public meetings of 
the citizens were usually convened, it was now quickly occu- 
pied. Paul was at first prompted to enter it, and to plead his 
cause before the excited throng ; but some of the magistrates, 
or, as they are called by the evangelist, " certain of the chief of 
Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that 
he would not adventure himself " in such a position. 5 These 
Asiarchs were persons of exalted rank who presided at the 
celebration of the public spectacles. The apostle was in very 
humble circumstances, for even in Ephesus he continued to 
work at the occupation of a tent-maker; 6 and it is no mean 
testimony to his worth that he had secured the esteem of such 
high functionaries. It was quickly manifest that any attempt 
to appease the crowd must be in vain. A Jew, named Alex- 
ander, who seems to have been one of the craftsmen, and, per- 
haps, the same who is elsewhere distinguished as the " copper- 

1 Acts xix. 28. 

2 See Conybeare and Howson, ii. 79-81. 3 Acts xix. 29. 

4 See Hackett's "Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles," p. 273. 

5 Acts xix. 31. 

6 Acts xx. 34. The Asiarchs " derived their title from the name of the 
province, as the corresponding officers in Cyprus, Syria, and Lydia, were 
called Cypriarchs, Syriarchs, Lydiarchs. Those of Asia are said to have 

been ten in number As the games and sacrifices over which these 

Asiarchs presided, were provided at their own expense, they were always 
chosen from the richest class, and may be said to represent the highest rank 
of the community." — Alexander on the Acts, ii. 210. 



112 PAUL AT EPHESUS. 

smith," ' made an effort to address them, probably with the view 
of showing that his co-religionists were not identified with 
Paul ; but when the mob perceived that he was of the seed of 
Abraham, they took it for granted that he was no friend to 
the manufacture of their silver shrines ; and his appearance 
was the signal for increased uproar. " When they knew that he 
was a Jew, all with one voice, about the space of two hours, 
cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians." 2 At length the 
town-clerk, or recorder, of Ephesus, contrived to obtain a 
hearing ; and, by his prudence and address, succeeded in put- 
ting an end to this scene of confusion. He told his fellow- 
townsmen that, if Paul and his companions had transgressed 
the law, they were amenable to punishment ; but that, as their 
own attachment to the worship of Diana could not be dispu- 
ted, their present tumultuary proceedings only injured their 
reputation as orderly and loyal citizens. " We are in danger," 
said he, " to be called in question for this day's uproar, there 
being no cause whereby we may give an account of this con- 
course." 3 The authority of the speaker imparted additional 
weight to his suggestions, the multitude quietly dispersed, 
and the missionaries escaped unscathed. 

Even this tumult supplies evidence that the Christian 
preachers had already produced an immense impression in the 
Asiatic metropolis. No more decisive test of their success 
could be adduced than that here furnished by Demetrius and 
his craftsmen ; for a lucrative trade connected with the estab- 
lished superstition was beginning to languish. The silver- 
smiths, and other interested operatives, were obviously the 
instigators of all the uproar; and yet they could not reckon 
upon the undivided sympathy even of the crowd they had 
congregated. " Some cried one thing, and some another, for 
the assembly was confused, and the more part knew not where- 

1 2 Tim. iv. 14. 

2 Acts xix. 34. According to the ideas of the heathen, this unintermitted 
cry was, in itself, an act of worship ; and hence we may understand why it 
was so long continued, but it is surely a notable example of " vain repeti- 
tions." See Hackett, p. 275. 

3 Acts xix. 40. 



PAUL AT EPHESUS. II3 

fore they were come together." ' A number of the Asiarchs 
were decidedly favorable to the apostle and his brethren ; and 
when the town-clerk referred to their proceedings his tone was 
apologetic and exculpatory. " Ye have," said he, " brought 
hither these men who are neither profaners of temples, 2 nor 
yet blasphemers of your goddess." 3 But here we see the 
real cause of much of that bitter persecution which the 
Christians endured for the greater part of three centuries. 
The craft of the image-makers was in danger; the income of 
the pagan priests was at stake ; the secular interests of many 
other parties were more or less affected ; and hence the new 
religion encountered such a cruel and obstinate opposition. 

1 Acts xix. 32. 

8 Our English version, " robbers of churches" is obviously incorrect. The 
Revised version of the New Testament reads, " robbers of temples." 

3 Acts xix. 37. It is plain from this passage that the apostle, when refer- 
ring to the Gentile worship, avoided the use of language calculated to give 
unnecessary offence. 

8 



CHAPTER IX. 

PAUL'S EPISTLES; HIS COLLECTION FOR THE POOR SAINTS 

AT JERUSALEM ; HIS IMPRISONMENT THERE 

AND AT CESAREA AND ROME. 

A.D. 57 to A.D. 63. 

PAUL had determined to leave Ephesus at Pentecost, 1 and 
as the secular games, at which the Asiarchs presided, took 
place during the month of May, the disorderly proceedings 
of Demetrius and the craftsmen, which occurred at the same 
period, did not greatly accelerate his removal. Soon after- 
ward, however, he " called unto him the disciples, and em- 
braced them, and departed to go into Macedonia." 2 When he 
reached that district, he was induced to enter on new scenes 
of missionary enterprise ; and now, " round about unto Illyri- 
cum," he " fully preached the Gospel of Christ." : Shortly 
before, Timothy had returned from Greece to Ephesus, 4 and 
when the apostle took leave of his friends in that metropolis, 
he left the evangelist behind him to protect the infant Church 
against the seductions of false teachers. 5 He now addressed the 
first epistle to his " own son in the faith," 6 and thus also sup- 
plied to the ministers of all succeeding generations the most 
precious instructions on pastoral theology. 7 Soon afterward 

1 1 Cor. xvi. 8. 2 Acts xx. 1. 8 Rom. xv. 19. 

4 See Acts xix. 22. 5 1 Tim. i. 3. 6 1 Tim. i. 2. 

7 According to the chronology adopted in our English Bible, all the Pas- 
toral Epistles were written after Paul's release from his first imprisonment, 
and this theory has recently been strenuously advocated by Conybeare and 
Howson, Alford, and Ellicott ; but their reasonings are exceedingly unsatis- 
factory. For, I. The statement of Conybeare and Howson that " the three 
(114) 



PAULS EPISTLES. 115 

he wrote the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. This letter 
throws much light on the private character of Paul, and en- 
ables us to understand how he contrived to maintain such a 
firm hold on the affections of those among whom he minis- 
tered. Though he uniformly acted with great decision, he 
was singularly amiable and gentle, as well as generous and 
warm-hearted. No one could doubt his sincerity ; no one 
could question his disinterestedness ; no one could fairly com- 
plain that he was harsh or unkind. In his First Epistle to 
the Corinthians he had been obliged to employ strong language 
when rebuking them for their irregularities; but now they ex- 
hibited evidences of repentance, and he is most willing to 
forget and forgive. In his Second Epistle to them he enters 
into many details of his personal history unnoticed elsewhere 
in the New Testament, 1 and throughout displays a most loving 
and conciliatory spirit. He states that, when he dictated his 
former letter, it was far from his intention to wound their 

epistles were nearly contemporaneous with each other " is a mere assertion 
resting on no solid foundation ; as resemblance in style, especially when all 
the letters were dictated by the same individual, can be no evidence as to 
date. II. There is direct evidence that heresies, such as those described in 
these epistles, existed in the Church long before Paul's first imprisonment. 
See 1 Cor. iii. 18, 19, xv. 12 ; 2 Cor. xi. 4, 13-15, 22, compared with 1 Tin\ 
i. 3, 7. III. The early Churches were very soon organized, as appears from 
Acts xiv. 23 ; 1 Thess. v. 12, 13 ; so that the state of ecclesiastical organi- 
zation described in the First Epistle to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus is 
no proof of the late date of these letters. IV. But the grand argument in 
support of the early date, and one with which the advocates of the later 
chronology have never fairly grappled, is derived from the fact that Paul 
never was in Ephesus after the time mentioned in Acts xx. When he wrote 
to Timothy he intended shortly to return thither. See 1 Tim. i. 3, iii. 14, 
15. It is evident that when the apostle addressed the elders of Ephesus 
(Acts xx. 25) and told them they should "see his face no more," he con- 
sidered himself as speaking prophetically. It is clear, too, that his words 
were so understood by his auditors (Acts xx. 38), and that the evangelist 
who wrote them down several years afterward was still under the same 
impression. I agree, therefore, with Wieseler, and others, in assigning an 
early date to the First Epistle to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus. 

1 2 Cor. xi. 9, 24-28, 32, 33, xii. 2, 7-9. The Second Epistle to the Co- 
rinthians was written late in A.D. 57. 



u6 Paul's epistles. 

feelings, and that it was with the utmost pain he had sent 
them such a communication. " Out of much affliction, and 
anguish of heart" said he, " I wrote unto you with many tears, 
not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the 
love which I have more abundantly unto you." 1 The Corin- 
thians could not have well resented an advice from such a 
correspondent. 

When Paul had itinerated throughout Macedonia and Illy- 
ricum " he came into Greece,* and there abode three months." 9 
He now visited Corinth for the third time ; and, during his 
stay in that city, dictated the Epistle to the Romans. 4 At 
this date, a Church " spoken of throughout the whole world " 5 
had been formed in the great metropolis ; some of its mem- 
bers were the relatives of the apostle; and others, such as 
Priscilla and Aquila, 7 had been converted under his ministry. 
As he himself contemplated an early visit to the far-famed 
city, 8 he sent this letter before him, to announce his intentions, 
and to supply the place of his personal instructions. The 
Epistle to the Romans is a precious epitome of Christian 
theology. It is more systematic in its structure than any 
other of the writings of Paul ; and being a very lucid expo- 
sition of the leading truths taught by the inspired heralds of 
the Gospel, it remains an emphatic testimony to the doctrinal 
defections of the religious community now bearing the name 
of the Church to which it was originally addressed. 

The apostle had been recently making arrangements for 
another visit to Jerusalem ; and he accordingly left Greece 
in the spring of A.D. 58 ; but the malignity of his enemies 
obliged him to change his plan of travelling. " When the 
Jews laid wait for him as he was about to sail " from Cen- 
chrea, the port of Corinth, " into Syria," he found it expedi- 
ent " to return through Macedonia." 9 Proceeding, therefore, 
to Philippi, 10 the city in which he had commenced his Euro- 

1 2 Cor. ii. 4. 2 elc t?)v 'E^ada, i.e., Achaia. 

3 Acts xx. 2, 3. 4 Rom. xvi. 1, 2, 23. 

5 Pom. i. 8. 6 Rom. xvi. 7, 11. 

7 Rom. xvi. 3. 8 Acts xix. 21 ; Rom. i. 10, 11, xv. 23, 24. 

9 Acts xx. 3. 10 Acts xx. 6. 



PAULS JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM. WJ 

pean ministry, he passed over to Troas ; l and then continued 
his journey along the coast of Asia Minor. On his arrival at 
Miletus " he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the 
Church ; and when they were come to him " he delivered to 
them a very pathetic pastoral address, and bade them farewell. 2 
At the conclusion, " he kneeled down and prayed with them 
all, and they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed 
him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake 
that they should see his face no more : and they accom- 
panied him^unto the ship." 3 He now pursued his course to 
Jerusalem, and after various delays, arrived at Caesarea. 
There, says Luke, " we entered into the house of Philip, the 
evangelist, which was one of the seven, and abode with him." 4 
In Caesarea, as in other cities through which he had already 
passed, he was told that bonds and afflictions awaited him in 
the place of his destination ; 6 but he was not thus deterred 
from pursuing his journey. " When he would not be per- 
suaded," says the sacred historian, "we ceased, saying, The 
will of the Lord be done, and after those days, having packed 
up, 6 we went up to Jerusalem." 7 The apostle and his com- 
panions reached the holy city about the time of the feast of 
Pentecost. 

Paul was well aware that there were not a few, even among 
the Christians of Palestine, by whom he was regarded with 
jealousy or dislike ; and he had reason to believe that the 
agitation for the observance of the ceremonial law, which had 
disturbed the Churches of Galatia, had been promoted by the 
zealots of the Hebrew metropolis. But he had a strong at- 
tachment to the land of his fathers ; and he felt deeply inter- 
ested in the well-being of his brethren in Judea. They were 
generally in indigent circumstances ; for, after the crucifixion, 

1 Acts xx. 6. a Acts xx. 17-35. a Acts xx. 36-38. 

4 Acts xxi. 8. b Acts xx. 23, xxi. 10, 11. 

6 e7rtoKevaaajuevoi — the reading adopted by Lachmann and others. The 
word " carriages " used in the authorized version for baggage or luggage, is 
now unintelligible to the English reader. The word " carriage " is also 
used in our translation in Judges xviii. 21, and 1 Sam. xvii. 22, for something 
to be carried. 7 Acts xxi. 1 5. 



118 THE COLLECTION FOR THE POOR SAINTS'. 

when the Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, those 
of them who had property " sold their possessions and goods, 
and parted them to all men, as every man had need "; ] and, 
ever since, they had been harassed and persecuted by their 
unbelieving countrymen. " The poor saints" in Jerusalem 3 
had, therefore, peculiar claims on the kind consideration of 
the disciples in other lands ; and Paul had been making col- 
lections for their benefit among their richer co-religionists in 
Greece and Asia Minor. A considerable sum had been thus 
provided ; and that there might be no misgivings as to its 
right appropriation, individuals chosen by the contributors 
had been appointed to travel with the apostle, and to convey 
it to Jerusalem. 3 The number of the deputies was seven, 
namely, " Sopater of Berea ; and of the Thessalonians, Aris- 
tarchus and Secundus ; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus ; 
and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus." 4 The apostle knew 
that he had enemies waiting for his halting ; and as they 
would willingly have seized on any apology for accusing him 
of tampering with this collection, he deemed it prudent to put 
it into other hands, and thus place himself above challenge. 
But he had a farther reason for suggesting the appointment 
of these commissioners. He was desirous to present before 
his brethren in Judea a specimen of the men who constituted 
" the first-fruits of the Gentiles "; and as all the deputies se- 
lected to accompany him to Jerusalem were persons of an 
excellent spirit, he reckoned that their wise and winning 
behavior would do much to disarm the hostility of those who 
had hitherto contended so strenuously for the observance of 
the Mosaic ceremonies. Solomon has said that " a man's gift 
maketh room for him "; 5 and if Gentile converts could ever 
expect a welcome reception from those who were zealous for 
the law, it was surely when they appeared as the bearers of 
the liberality of the Gentile Churches. 

When the apostle and his companions reached the Jewish 
capital, " the brethren received them gladly." 6 Paul was, 

1 Acts ii. 45. 2 Rom. xv. 26. 3 1 Cor. xvi. 3 ; 2 Cor. viii. 19. 

4 Acts xx. 4. B Prov. xviii. 16. 6 Acts xxi. 17. 



PAUL AT JERUSALEM. 1 19 

however, given to understand that, as he was charged with 
encouraging the neglect of the Mosaic ceremonies, he must be 
prepared to meet a large amount of prejudice ; and he was 
accordingly recommended to endeavor to pacify the multitude 
by giving some public proof that he himself " walked orderly 
and kept the law." 1 Acting on this advice, he joined with 
four men who had on them a Nazaritic vow ; 2 and, " purifying 
himself with them, entered into the temple." 3 When there, 
he was observed by certain Jews from Asia Minor, who had 
become acquainted with his personal appearance during his 
residence in Ephesus ; and as they had before seen him in the 
city with Trophimus, one of the seven deputies and a convert 
from paganism, whom they also knew, 4 they immediately con. 
eluded that he had now some Gentile companions along with 
him, and that he was encouraging the uncircumcised to pollute 
with their presence the sacred court of the Israelites. A tu- 
mult forthwith ensued ; the report of the defilement of the 
holy place quickly circulated through the crowd ; " all the city 
was moved "; 5 the people ran together ; and Paul was seized 
and dragged out of the temple. 6 The apostle would have 
fallen a victim to popular fury had it not been for the prompt 
interference of the officer who had the command of the Roman 
garrison in the tower of Antonia. This stronghold overlooked 
the courts of the sanctuary ; and, some of the sentinels on duty 

1 Acts xxi. 24. 

2 " It was customary among the Jews for those who had received deliv- 
erance from any great peril, or who from other causes desired publicly to 
testify their dedication to God, to take upon themselves the vow of a Naz- 

arite No rule is laid down (Numb, vi.) as to the time during which 

this life of ascetic rigor was to continue ; but we learn from the Talmud 
and Josephus that thirty days was at least a customary period. During 
this time the Nazarite was bound to abstain from wine, and to suffer his 
hair to grow uncut. At the termination of the period, he was bound to 
present himself in the temple, with certain offerings, and his hair was then 
cut off" and burnt upon the altar. The offerings required were beyond the 
means of the very poor, and consequently it was thought an act of piety for 
a rich man to pay the necessary expenses, and thus enable his poorer coun- 
trymen to complete their vow." — Conybeare and Howson, ii. 250, 251. 

3 Acts xxi. 26. 4 Acts xxi. 29. 6 Acts xxi. 30. 6 Acts xxi. 30. 



120 PAUL AT JERUSALEM. 

immediately gave notice of the commotion. The chief cap- 
tain, whose name was Claudius Lysias, 1 " took soldiers and 
centurions," and running down to the rioters, arrived in time 
to prevent a fatal termination of the affray ; for, as soon as the 
military made their appearance, the assailants " left beating of 
Paul." 2 "Then the chief captain came near, and took him, 
and commanded him to be bound with two chains, and de- 
manded who he was, and what he had done. And some cried 
one thing, some another, among the multitude, and when he 
could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded 
him to be carried into the castle." 3 In proceeding thus, the 
commanding officer acted illegally ; for, as Paul was a Roman 
citizen, he should not, without a trial, have been deprived of 
his liberty, and put in irons. But Lysias, in the hurry and 
confusion of the moment deceived by false information, had 
been led to believe that his prisoner was an Egyptian, a noto- 
rious outlaw, who, " before these days," had created much 
alarm by leading " out into the wilderness four thousand men 
that were murderers." 4 He was astonished to find that the 
individual whom he had rescued from such imminent danger 
was a citizen of Tarsus in Cilicia who could speak Greek ; and 
as it was now evident that there existed much misapprehen- 
sion, the apostle was permitted to stand on the stairs of the 
fortress, and address the multitude. When they saw him pre- 
paring to make some statement, the noise subsided ; and, 
" when they heard that he spake to them in the Hebrew 
tongue " — that is, in the Aramaic, the current language of the 
country — " they kept the more silence." 5 Paul accordingly 
proceeded to give an account of his early life, of the remarka- 
ble circumstances of his conversion, and of his subsequent 

1 Acts xxiii. 26. 2 Acts xxi. 32. 

3 Acts xxi. 33, 34. There were barracks in the tower of Antonia. 

4 Acts xxi. 38. "Assassins is in the original a Greek inflection of the 
Latin word Sicarii, so called from Sica, a short sword or dagger, and de- 
scribed by Josephus as a kind of robbers who concealed short swords be- 
neath their garments, and infested Judea in the period preceding the de- 
struction of Jerusalem." — Alexander on the Acts, ii. 289. 

6 Acts xxii. 2. 



PAUL AT OESAREA. 121 

career ; but, when he mentioned his mission to the Gentiles, 
it was at once apparent that the topic was most unpopular, 
for his auditors lost all patience. " They gave him audience 
unto this word, and then lifted up their voices and said, Away 
with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he 
should live. And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, 
and threw dust into the air, the chief captain commanded him 
to be brought into the castle." x 

The confinement of Paul, which commenced at the feast of 
Pentecost in A.D. 58, continued about five years. It may be 
enough to notice the mere outline of his history during this 
tedious bondage. In the first place, for the purpose of ascer- 
taining the exact nature of the charge against him, he was 
confronted with the Sanhedrim ; but when he informed them 
that " of the hope and resurrection of the dead he was called 
in question," 2 there " arose a dissension between the Pharisees 
and the Sadducees " 3 constituting the council ; and the chief 
captain, fearing lest his prisoner " should have been pulled in 
pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to 
take him by force from among them, and to bring him into 
the castle." 4 Certain of the Jews, about forty in number, 
now entered into a conspiracy, binding themselves " under a 
curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they 
had killed Paul "; 6 and it was arranged that the bloody vow 
should be executed when, under pretence of a new examina- 
tion, he was brought again before the Sanhedrim ; but their 
proceedings meanwhile became known to the apostle's nephew ; 
the chief captain received timely information ; and the scheme 
thus miscarried. 8 Paul, protected by a strong military escort, 
was now sent away by night to Csesarea ; and, when there, 
was repeatedly examined before Felix, the Roman magistrate 
who at this time, under the title of Procurator, had the gov- 
ernment of Judea. The historian Tacitus says of this im- 
perial functionary that " in the practice of all kinds of cruelty 
and lust, he exercised the power of a king with the mind of a 

] Acts xxii. 22-24. 2 Acts xxiii. 6. 3 Acts xxiii. 7. 

4 Acts xxiii. 10. 5 Acts xxiii. 12, 21. 6 Acts xxiii. 16, 23, 30. 



122 PAUL AT CESAREA. 

slave "; 2 and it is a remarkable proof, as well of the intrepid 
faithfulness, as of the eloquence of the apostle, that he suc- 
ceeded in arresting the attention, and in alarming the fears of 
this worthless profligate. Drusilla, his wife, a woman who 
had deserted her former husband, 5 was a Jewess ; and, as she 
was desirous to see and hear the great Christian preacher who 
had been laboring with so much zeal to propagate his prin- 
ciples throughout the Empire, Paul, to satisfy her curiosity, 
was brought into her presence. But an interview, designed 
merely for the amusement of the Procurator and his partner, 
soon assumed an appearance of the deepest solemnity. As 
the grave and earnest orator went on to expound the faith of 
the Gospel, and " as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, 
and judgment to come, Felix trembled." 3 His apprehen- 
sions, however, soon passed away, and though he was fully 
convinced that Paul had not incurred any legal penalty, he 
continued to keep him in confinement, basely expecting to 
obtain a bribe for his liberation. When disappointed in this 
hope, he still perversely refused to set him at liberty. Thus, 
" after two years," when " Porcius Festus came into Felix's 
room," the ex-Procurator, " willing to show the Jews a pleas- 
ure, left Paul bound." 4 

The apostle was soon required to appear before the new 
Governor. Festus has left behind him the reputation of an 
equitable judge ; 6 and though he was most desirous to secure 
the good opinion of the Jews ; he could not be induced by 
them to act with palpable injustice. After he had brought 
them down to Caesarea, and listened to their complaints 
against the prisoner, he perceived that they could convict him 
of no violation of the law ; but he proposed to gratify them 
so far as to have the case reheard in the holy city. Paul, 
however, well knew that they only sought such an oppor- 
tunity to compass his assassination, and therefore peremp- 

1 " Per omnem saevitam ac libidinem jus regium servili ingenio exercuit." 
— Hist. v. 9. 

2 Josephus' " Antiq." xx. c. 7, §§ 1, 2. 

3 Acts xxiv. 25. 4 Acts xxiv. 27. 
6 See some account of him in Josephus' " Antiq." xx. c. 8, §§ 9, 10. 



PAUL AT OESAREA. 1 23 

torily refused to consent to the arrangement. "I stand," 
said he, " at Caesar's judgment-seat, where I ought to be 
judged. To the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very 
well knowest. For if I be an offender, or have committed 
anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die ; but if there be 
none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may 
deliver me unto them. I appeal tint Cczsar" 1 

The right of appeal from the decision of an inferior tri- 
bunal to the Emperor himself was one of the great privileges 
of a Roman citizen ; and no magistrate could refuse to recog- 
nize it without exposing himself to condign punishment. 
There were, indeed, a few exceptional cases of a flagrant char- 
acter in which such an appeal could not be received ; and 
Festus here consulted with his assessors to ascertain in what 
light the law contemplated that of the apostle. They de- 
cided, however, that he was at perfect liberty to demand a 
hearing before the tribunal of Nero. " Then," says the 
evangelist, "when Festus had conferred with the council, he 
answered, Hast thou appealed unto Caesar ? Unto Caesar 
shalt thou go." 2 

The Procurator was placed in an awkward position ; for, 
when sending Paul to Rome, he was required at the same 
time to report the crimes imputed to the prisoner ; but the 
charges were so novel and so frivolous, that he did not well 
know how to embody them in an intelligible document. 
Meanwhile King Agrippa and his sister Bernice came to 
Caesarea " to salute Festus," ' that is, to congratulate the 
new Governor on his arrival in the country ; and the royal 
party expressed a desire to hear what the apostle had to 
say in his vindication. Agrippa was great-grandson of that 
Herod who reigned in Judea when Jesus was born in Bethle- 
hem, and the son of the monarch of the same name whose 
sudden and awful death is recorded in the twelfth chapter 
of the Acts. On the demise of his father in A.D. 44, he 

1 Acts xxv. 11. 2 Acts xxv. 12. 

3 Acts xxv. 13. Festus appears to have been Procurator from the be- 
ginning of the autumn of a.d. 60 to the summer of A.D. 62. Felix was re- 
called A.D. 60. See Conybeare and Howson, Appendix ii. note (C). 



124 PAUL AT C/ESAREA. 

was only seventeen years of age ; and Judea, which was then 
reduced into the form of a Roman province with Csesarea 
for its capital, had remained ever since under the gov- 
ernment of Procurators. But though Agrippa had not 
been permitted to succeed to the dominions of his father, 
he had received various proofs of imperial favor ; for he 
had obtained the government, first of the principality of 
Chalcis, and then of several other districts ; and he had 
been honored with the title of King. 1 The Gentile Procura- 
tors were seldom acquainted with the ritual and polity of 
Israel ; but as Agrippa was a Jew, and consequently familiar 
with the customs and sentiments of the native population, he 
had been intrusted with the care of the temple and its treas- 
ures, as well as with the appointment of the high-priest. 
Festus felt that, in the case of Paul, the advice of this visitor 
should be solicited ; and hoped to obtain from Agrippa some 
suggestion to relieve him out of his present perplexity. It was 
accordingly arranged that the apostle should plead his cause 
in the hearing of the Jewish monarch. The affair created un- 
usual interest ; the public were partially admitted on the occa- 
sion ; and rarely or, perhaps, never before, had Paul enjoyed 
an opportunity of addressing such an influential and brilliant 
auditory. "Agrippa came, and Bernice, with great pomp, and 
entered into the place of hearing, with the chief captains, and 
principal men of the city." 3 Paul, still in bonds, made his ap- 
pearance before this courtly throng; and though a two years' 
confinement might well have broken the spirit of the prisoner, 
he displayed powers of argument and eloquence which aston- 
ished and confounded his judges. The Procurator was quite 
bewildered by his reasoning, for he appealed to "the promise 
made unto the fathers," 3 and to things which " Moses and the 
prophets did say should come "; 4 and as Festus could not ap- 
preciate the lofty enthusiasm of the Christian orator (for he 
had never, when at Rome, been accustomed to hear the advo- 
cates of heathenism plead so earnestly in its defence), he " said 
with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself ; much learn- 

1 Josephus' " Wars," ii. c. 12, § 8 ; " Antiq." xx. c. 5, § 2. 

2 Acts xxv. 23. 3 Acts xxvi. 6. * Acts xxvi. 22. 



PAUL AT CESAREA. 1 25 

ing doth make thee mad." 1 But the apostle's self-possession 
was in nowise shaken by this blunt charge. " I am not mad, 
most noble Festus," he replied, " but speak forth the words of 
truth and soberness "; and then, turning to the royal stranger, 
vigorously pressed home his argument. " King Agrippa," he 
exclaimed, "believest thou the prophets? I know that thou 
believest." 2 The King, thus challenged, was a libertine; and 
at this very time was believed to be living in incestuous inter- 
course with his sister Bernice; and yet he seems to have 
been staggered by Paul's solemn and pointed interrogatory. 
"Almost," said he, " thou persuadest me to be a Christian." 3 
It has been thought by some that these words were uttered 
with a sneer ; but whatever may have been the frivolity of the 
Jewish King, they elicited from the apostle one of the noblest 
rejoinders that ever issued from human lips, " And Paul said, I 
would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this 
day, were both almost and altogether such as I am, except 
these bonds." 4 

The singularly able defence made by the apostle convinced 
his judges of the futility of the charges preferred against him 
by the Sanhedrim. But at this stage of the proceedings it was 
no longer practicable to quash the prosecution. When Paul 
concluded his address " the king rose up, and the governor, and 
Bernice, and they that sat with them. And when they were 
gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, This man 
doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds. Then said Agrippa 
unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he 
had not appealed unto Caesar." 5 

At first sight it appears extraordinary that so eminent a mis- 
sionary in the meridian of his usefulness was subjected to so 
long an imprisonment. But " God's ways are not as our ways, 
nor his thoughts as our thoughts." When thus, to a great 
extent, laid aside from official duty, he had ample time to 

1 Acts xxiv. 24. 2 Acts xxvi. 27. 

3 Acts xxvi. 28. Some translate h bliyu " in short," instead of " almost." 
The revised English version reads, " With but little persuasion thou wouldest 
fain make me a Christian." 

4 Acts xxvi. 29. 6 Acts xxvi. 30-32. 



126 PAUL'S IMPRISONMENT. 

commune with his own heart, and to trace out with adoring 
wonder the glorious grace and the manifold wisdom of the 
work of redemption. Having himself partaken largely of afflic- 
tion, and experienced the sustaining power of the Gospel so 
abundantly, he was the better prepared to comfort the dis- 
tressed ; and hence his letters, written at this period, are so 
full of consolation. 1 And apart from other considerations, we 
may here recognize the fulfilment of a prophetic announce- 
ment. When Paul was converted, the Lord said to Ananias : 
" He is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the 
Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel, for I will show 
him Jwzv g?-cat things he must suffer for my name's sake." 2 
During his protracted confinement he exhibited alike to Jew 
and Gentile an illustrious specimen of faith and constancy; 
and called attention to the truth in many quarters where other- 
wise it might have remained unknown. Though he was chained 
to a soldier, he was not kept in very rigorous custody, so that 
he had frequent opportunities of proclaiming the great salva- 
tion. He was peculiarly fitted by his education and his geni- 
us for expounding Christianity to persons moving in the upper 
circles of society ; and had he remained at liberty he could 
have gained access very rarely to such auditors. But already, 
as a prisoner, he had pleaded the claims of the Gospel before 
no inconsiderable portion of the aristocracy of Palestine. He 
had been heard by the chief captain in command of the garri- 
son in the castle of Antonia, by the Sanhedrim, by Felix and 
Drusilla, by Festus, by King Agrippa and his sister Bernice, 
and by " the principal men " of both Caesarea and Jerusalem. 
In criminal cases the appeals of Roman citizens were heard by 
the Emperor himself, so that the apostle was about to appear 
as an ambassador for Christ in the presence of the greatest of 
earth's potentates. Who can tell but that some of that splen- 
did assembly of senators and nobles who surrounded Nero, 
when Paul was brought before his judgment-seat, will have 

1 Eph. vi. 22 ; Phil. ii. i, 2 ; Col. i. 24, iv. 8 ; Philem. 7, compared with 2 
Cor. i. 3, 4. 

2 Acts ix. 1 5, 16. 



PAUL'S SHIPWRECK. \2J 

reason throughout all eternity to remember the occasion as the 
birthday of their blessedness ! 

The apostle and "certain other prisoners" embarked for 
Rome in the autumn of A.D. 60. The compass was then un- 
known ; in weather, " when neither sun nor stars in many 
days appeared," 1 the mariner was without a guide; and, late 
in the season, navigation was peculiarly dangerous. The voy- 
age proved disastrous ; after passing into a second vessel at 
Myra, 2 a city of Lycia, Paul and his companions were wrecked 
on the coast of the island of Malta ; 3 when they had remained 
there three months, they set sail once more in a corn ship of 
Alexandria, the Castor and Pollux ;* and at length, in the early 
part of A.D. 61, reached the harbor of Puteoli, 5 then the great 
shipping port of Italy. 

The account of the voyage from Csesarea to Puteoli, as 
given in the Acts of the Apostles, is one of the most curious 
passages to be found in the whole of the sacred volume. 
Some may think it strange that the inspired historian 
enters so much into details, and the nautical terms which 
he employs puzzle not a few readers ; but these features of 
his narrative attest its authenticity and genuineness. No 
one, who had not himself shared the perils of the scene, 
could have described with so much accuracy the circumstances 
of the shipwreck. After the lapse of eighteen hundred years, 
the references of the evangelist to prevailing winds and cur- 

1 Acts xxvii. This part of the history of the apostle has been illustrated 
with singular ability by James Smith, Esq., of Jordanhill, in his " Voyage and 
Shipwreck of St. Paul." 

2 Acts xxvii. 5, 6. 

3 Acts xxviii. 1. That Melita is Malta has been conclusively established 
by Smith in his " Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul." " Dissertation," ii. 

4 Acts xxviii. 11. " With regard to the dimensions of the ships of the an- 
cients, some of them must have been quite equal to the largest merchant- 
men of the present day. The ship of St. Paul had, in passengers and crew, 
276 persons on board, besides her cargo of wheat, and as they were carried 
on by another ship of the same class, she must also have been of great size. 
The ship in which Josephus was wrecked contained 600 people." — Smith's 
"Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul," p. 147. 

5 Acts xxviii. 13. 



128 PAUL'S SHIPWRECK. 

rents, to the indentations of the coast, to islands, bays, and 
harbors, may still be exactly verified. Recent investigators 
have demonstrated that the sailors, in the midst of danger, 
displayed no little ability, and that their conduct in " under- 
girding the ship," J and in casting " four anchors out of the 
stern," 3 evidenced their skilful seamanship. Luke states that, 
after a long period of anxiety and abstinence, " about mid- 
night the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some 
country." 3 The headland they were approaching is very low, 
and in a stormy night is said to be invisible even at the dis- 
tance of a quarter of a mile ; 4 but the sailors detect the shore 
by other indications. Even in a storm the roar of breakers 
can be distinguished from other sounds by the practiced ear 
of a mariner ; 6 and it can be shown that, with such a gale as 
was then blowing, the sea still dashes with amazing violence 
against the very same point of land off which Paul and his 
companions were that night laboring. In the depth of the 
water at the place there is another most remarkable coinci- 
dence. The sailors " sounded and found it twenty fathoms, 
and when they had gone a little farther, they sounded, and 
found it fifteen fathoms"* "But what," observes a modern 
writer, " are the soundings at this point ? They are now twenty 
fathoms. If we proceed a little farther we find fifteen fathoms. 
It may be said that this, in itself, is nothing remarkable. But 
if we add that the fifteen-fathom depth is in the direction of 
the vessel's drift (W. by N.) from the twenty-fathom depth, 
the coincidence is startling." 7 It may be stated also that the 

1 Acts xxvii. 17. 

2 Acts xxvii. 29. " The ancient vessels did not carry, in general, so large 
anchors as those which we employ; and hence they had often a greater 
number of them. Athenaeus mentions a ship which had eight iron anchors." 
— Hackett, p. 372. 

3 Acts xxvii. 27. 

4 " When the Lively, frigate, unexpectedly fell in with this very point, the 
quartermaster on the look-out, who first observed it, states, in his evidence 
at the court-martial, that, at the distance of a quarter of a mile, the land 
could not be seen." — Smith's Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul, pp. 89, 90. 

6 Hackett, p. 371. 6 Acts xxvii. 7 Conybeare and Hovvson, ii. 351. 



PAUL S SHIPWRECK. I29 

" creek with a shore" 1 or sandy beach, and the " place where 
two seas met," 2 and where " they ran the ship aground," may 
still be recognized in what is now called St. Paul's Bay at 
Malta. 3 Even in the nature of the submarine strata we have 
a most striking confirmation of the truth of the inspired his- 
tory. It appears that the four anchors cast out of the stern 
retained their hold, and it is well known that the ground in 
St. Paul's Bay is remarkably firm ; for in our English sailing 
directions it is mentioned that " while the cables hold, there is 
no danger, as the anchors will never start." 4 Luke reports 
that when the ship ran aground, " the forepart stuck fast and 
remained unmovable" 5 — a statement which is corroborated 
by the fact that " the bottom is mud graduating into tenacious 
clay " 6 — exactly the species of deposit from which such a 
result might be anticipated. 

When Paul landed at Puteoli, he must have contemplated 
with deep emotion the prospect of his arrival in Rome. The 
city to which he now approached contained, perhaps, upwards 
of a million of human beings. 7 But the amount of its inhab- 
itants was one of the least remarkable of its extraordinary dis- 
tinctions. It was the capital of the mightiest empire that had 
ever yet existed ; one hundred races speaking one hundred 
languages were under its dominion; 8 and the sceptre which 
ruled so many subject provinces was wielded by an absolute 
potentate. This great autocrat was the high-priest of heathen- 
ism — thus combining the grandeur of temporal majesty with 
the sacredness of religious elevation. Senators and generals, 

1 Acts xxvii. 39. 2 Acts xxvii. 41. 

3 Smith's " Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul," p. 102. 

4 Smith's " Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul," p. 92. 
6 Acts xxvii. 41. 

6 Smith's " Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul," p. 104. 

7 Conybeare and Howson make the population more than 2,000,000 (ii. 
376). Merivale reduces it to something less than 700,000 (iv. 520). In 
Smith's " Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography " it is stated as up- 
wards of 2,000,000. Greswell makes it about 1,000,000 ("Dissertations," 
iv. 46.) Dean Milman reckons it from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 ("History of 
Latin Christianity," i. 23). 

8 Merivale, iv. 391. 

9 



130 THE CITY OF ROME. 

petty kings and provincial governors, were all obliged to bow 
obsequiously to his mandates. In this vast metropolis might 
be found natives of almost every clime ; some engaged in its 
trade ; some who had travelled to it from distant countries to 
solicit the imperial favor ; some, like Paul, conveyed to it as 
prisoners ; some stimulated to visit it by curiosity ; and some 
attracted to it by the vague hope of bettering their condition. 
The city of the Caesars has well been described as " sitting 
upon many waters "; ! for, though fourteen or fifteen miles 
from the mouth of the Tiber, the mistress of the world was 
placed on a peninsula stretching out into the middle of a great 
inland sea over which she reigned without a rival. In the 
summer months almost every part of every country along the 
shores of the Mediterranean sent forth vessels freighted with 
cargoes for the merchants of Rome. 3 The fleet from Alex- 
andria laden with wheat for the supply of the city was treated 
with peculiar honor ; for its ships alone were permitted to 
hoist their topsails as they approached the shore ; a deputation 
of senators awaited its arrival ; and, as soon as it appeared, 
the whole surrounding population streamed to the pier, and 
observed the day as a general jubilee. But an endless supply 
of other articles in which the poor were less interested found 
their way to Rome. The mines of Spain furnished the great 
capital with gold and silver, whilst its sheep yielded wool of 
superior excellence ; and, in those times of Roman conquest, 
slaves were often transported from the shores of Britain. The 
horses and chariots and fine linen of Egypt, the gums and 
spices and silk and ivory and pearls of India, the Chian and 
the Lesbian wines, and the beautiful marble of Greece and 
Asia Minor, all met with purchasers in the mighty metrop- 
olis.' As John surveyed in vision the fall of Rome, and as 
he thought of the almost countless commodities which minis- 
tered to her insatiable luxury, well might he represent the 
world's traffic as destroyed by the catastrophe ; and well might 
he speak of the merchants of the earth as weeping and mourn- 

1 Rev. xvii. i. a Merivale, iv. 412. 3 Merivale, iv. 414-420. 



PAUL AT ROME. 131 

ing over her, because " no man buyeth their merchandise any- 
more." 1 

Paul had often desired to prosecute his ministry in the im- 
perial city ; for he knew that if Christianity obtained a firm 
footing in that great centre of civilization and of power, its 
influence would soon be transmitted to the ends of the earth ; 
but he appeared there under circumstances equally painful and 
discouraging. And yet even in this embarrassing position he 
was not overwhelmed with despondency. At Puteoli he 
" found brethren," 2 and through the indulgence of Julius, the 
centurion to whose care he was committed, he was courteously 
allowed to spend a week 3 with the little Church of which they 
were members. He now set out on his way to the metropolis ; 
but the intelligence of his arrival had travelled before him, and 
after crossing the Pomptfne marshes, he was delighted to find 
a number of Christian friends from Rome assembled at Appii 
Forum to tender to him the assurances of their sympathy and 
affection. The place was twenty-seven miles from the capital ; 
and yet, at a time when travelling was so tedious and so irk- 
some, they had undertaken this lengthened journey to visit 
the poor, weather-beaten, and tempest-tossed prisoner. At the 
Three Taverns, ten miles nearer to the city, he met another 
party of disciples 4 anxious to testify their attachment to so 
distinguished a servant of their Divine Master. These tokens 
of respect and love made a deep impression on the susceptible 
mind of the apostle; and when he saw the brethren, " he 
thanked God and took courage." 5 

The important services he had been able to render on the 
voyage gave him a claim to particular indulgence ; and accord- 
ingly, when he reached Rome, and when the centurion deliv- 
ered the prisoners to the Praetorian Prefect, or the command- 
er-in-chief of the Praetorian guards, 6 " Paul was suffered to 

1 Rev. xviii. 11. 2 Acts xxviii. 14. s Acts xxviii. 14. 

4 Acts xxviii. 15. 5 Acts xxviii. 15. 

6 Called in our English version, " the captain of the guard." The cele- 
brated Burrus was at this time (a.d. 61) the Prastorian Prefect. Wieseler, 
P- 393« See also Greswell's "Dissertations," iv. p. 199. 



13 2 PAUL AT ROME. 

dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him." 3 But though 
he enjoyed this comparative liberty, he was chained to his 
military care-taker, so that his position was still very far from 
comfortable. And yet even thus he continued his ministry 
with as much ardor as if he had been without restraint, and 
as if he had been cheered on by the applause of his genera- 
tion. Three days after his arrival in the city he " called the 
chief of the Jews together," 2 and gave them an account of the 
circumstances of his committal, and of his appeal to the im- 
perial tribunal. They informed him that his case had not 
been reported to them by their brethren in Judea, and then 
expressed a desire to hear from him a statement of the claims 
o{ Christianity. " And when they had appointed him a day, 
there came many to him into his lodging, to whom he ex- 
pounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them 
concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the 
prophets, from morning till evening." 8 His appeals produced 
a favorable impression on only a part of his audience. " Some 
believed the things wh ich were spoken and some believed not." 4 
Several years prior to this date a Christian Church existed 
in the Western metropolis, and at this time there were prob- 
ably several ministers in the city ; but the apostle now en- 
tered on a field of labor which had not hitherto been occu- 
pied. He " dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, 
and received all that came in unto him — preaching the king- 
dom of God, and teaching those things which concern the 
Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding 
him." 6 All this time Paul's right hand was chained to the 
left hand of a soldier, who was responsible for the safe keeping 
of his prisoner. The soldiers relieved each other in this duty. 8 
Paul's chain was relaxed at meal-times, and perhaps he was 
occasionally granted some little additional indulgence ; but 
day and night he and his care-taker remained in close proxim- 
ity, as the life of the soldier was forfeited should his ward es- 
cape. We can well conceive that the very appearance of the 

1 Acts xxviii. 16. 2 Acts xxviii. 17. 3 Acts xxviii. 23. 

4 Acts xxviii. 24. 5 Acts xxviii. 31. 6 Conybeare and Howson, ii. 296. 



PAUL AT ROME. 1 33 

preacher at this period invited special attention to his minis- 
trations. He was " Paul the aged." l He had perhaps passed 
the verge of three-score years ; and though his detractors had 
formerly objected to " his bodily presence as weak," a all would 
at this time have probably admitted that his aspect was ven- 
erable. His life had been a career of unabated exertion ; and, 
though worn down by toils and hardships and imprisonments, 
his zeal burned with unquenched ardor. As the soldier who 
kept him belonged to the Praetorian guards, the apostle spent 
much of his time in the neighborhood of their quarters on the 
Palatine hill"; 3 and as he was now so conversant with military 
sights and sounds, we may account for some of the allusions 
to be found in his epistles written during this confinement. 
Thus, he speaks of Archippus and Epaphroditus as his " fel- 
low soldiers "; * and he exhorts his brethren to " put on the 
whole armor of God," including " the breast-plate of right- 
eousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the 
sword of the Spirit." 5 As the indefatigable old man, with the 
soldier who had charge of him, passed from house to house in- 
viting attendance on his services, the very appearance of such 
"yoke-fellows" 6 created some interest; and, when the con- 
gregation assembled, who could remain unmoved as the apos- 
tle stretched forth his chained hand 7 and proceeded to ex- 
pound his message ! The preacher himself thought that the 
position which he occupied, as " the prisoner of the Lord," 8 
imparted somewhat to the power of his testimony. Hence 
we find him saying : " I would ye should understand, breth- 
ren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out 
rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel, so that my bonds in 
Christ are manifest in all the Prsetorium, 9 and in all other 

1 Philem. 9. 2 2 Cor. x. 10. 3 See Conybeare and Hovvson, ii. 428. 
4 Phil. ii. 25 ; Philem. 2. 5 Eph. vi. 13, 14, 16, 17. 

6 Phil. iv. 3. When speaking of a " true yoke-fellow," he may here refer 
to the way in which he was himself unequally yoked. 

7 See Acts xxvi. 1, 29. 8 Eph. iv. 1. 

8 h o/.cj ru irpacrupiu — " We never find the word employed for the Im- 
perial house at Rome ; and we believe the truer view to be that it denotes 
here, not the palace itself, but the quarters of that part of the Imperial 
guards which was in immediate attendance on the Emperor." — Conybeare 
and Howson, ii. 428. 



134 " PAUL'S EPISTLES. 

places ; and many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confi- 
dent by my bonds are much more bold to speak the word 
without fear." x 

During this imprisonment at Rome Paul dictated a number 
of his epistles. Of these the letter to Philemon, a Christian 
of Colosse, seems to have been first written. The bearer of 
this communication was Onesimus, who had at one time been 
a slave in the service of the individual to whom it is ad- 
dressed ; and who, after robbing his master, had left the coun- 
try. The thi-ef made his way to Rome, where he was con- 
verted under the ministry of the apostle, and where he had 
since greatly recommended himself as a zealous and trustwor- 
thy disciple. He was now sent back to Colosse with this 
Epistle to Philemon, in which the writer undertakes to be ac- 
countable for the property pilfered, 2 and entreats his corre- 
spondent to give a kindly reception to the penitent fugitive. 
Onesimus, when conveying the letter to his old master, was 
accompanied by Tychicus, described as " a beloved brother 
and a faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord," 3 who 
was intrusted with the Epistle to the Colossians. Error, in 
the form of false philosophy and Judaizing superstition, had 
been creeping into the Colossian Church, 4 and the apostle in 
this letter exhorts his brethren to beware of its encroach- 
ments. At the same time Paul wrote the Epistle to the 
Ephesians, and Tychicus was also the bearer of this communi- 
cation. 5 Unlike most of the other epistles, it has no saluta- 
tions at the close ; it is addressed, not only " to the saints 
which are at Ephesus " in particular, but also " to the faith- 
ful in Christ Jesus " 6 in general ; and, as its very superscription 
thus bears evidence that it was originally intended to be a cir- 
cular letter, it is probably "the epistle from Laodicea " men- 
tioned in the Epistle to the Colossians. 7 The first division of 
it is eminently distinguished by the profound and comprehen- 
sive views of the Christian system it exhibits ; whilst the lat- 
ter portion is no less remarkable for the variety, pertinency, 

1 Phil. i. 12-14. 2 Philem. 18, 19. 3 Col. iv. 7. 

4 Col. ii. 8, 16, 18, 23. 5 Eph. vi. 21, 22. 6 Eph. i. 1. 7 Col. iv. 16. 



PAULS EPISTLES. 1 35 

and wisdom of its practical admonitions. The Epistle to the 
Philippians was likewise written about this period. Paul al- 
ways took a deep interest in the well-being of his earliest Eu- 
ropean converts, and here he speaks in most hopeful terms of 
their spiritual condition. 1 They were less disturbed by di- 
visions and heresies than perhaps any other of the Apostolic 
Churches. 

1 Phil. i. 3-7. 



CHAPTER X. 

PAUL'S SECOND IMPRISONMENT AND MARTYRDOM; PETER, 

HIS EPISTLES, HIS MARTYRDOM, AND THE 

ROMAN CHURCH. 

THE Book of the Acts terminates abruptly ; and the sub- 
sequent history of Paul is involved in much obscurity. Some 
contend that the apostle was never released from his first im- 
prisonment at Rome, and that he was one of the earliest 
Christian martyrs who suffered under the Emperor Nero. 
But this theory is encumbered with insuperable difficulties. 
In his letters from Rome, Paul evidently anticipates his liber- 
ation j 1 and in some of them he apparently speaks propheti- 
cally. Thus, he says to the Philippians, " I am in a strait 
betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, 
which is far better — nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more 
needful for you — and having this confidence, / know that I 
shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and 
joy of faith." 2 The apostle had long cherished a desire to 
visit Spain ; 3 and there is evidence that he actually preached 
the Gospel in that country ; for Clemens Romanus, his con- 
temporary and fellow-laborer, positively affirms that he travelled 
" to the extremity of the west." 4 Clemens is said to have 
been himself a native of the great metropolis; 5 and as he 
makes the statement just quoted in a letter written from 

1 Phil, ii 24; Philem. 22. 2 Phil. i. 23-25-. 3 Rom. xv. 24, 28. 

4 ettI to rtpfia Tr,q 6'vczuq — Epist. to the Corinthians v. Clement in the 
same place mentions that Paul was seven times in bonds. See also Gres- 
well, "Dissertations," vol. iv., pp. 225-228. 

6 See Cave's " Fathers," i. 147. Oxford, 1840. 
(136) 



PAUL'S SECOND IMPRISONMENT. 1 37 

Rome, it can not be supposed that, under such circum- 
stances, he described Italy as the boundary of the earth. The 
Second Epistle to Timothy, written immediately before Paul's 
death, contains several passages which indicate that the author 
had been very recently at liberty. Thus, he says, " The 
cloak 1 (or, as some render it, the case 2 ) that I left at Troas, 
with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the 
books, but especially the parchments." 3 These words suggest 
that the apostle had lately visited Troas, on the coast of Asia 
Minor. Again, he remarks, " Erastus abode at Corinth, but 
Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick." * Any ordinary 
reader would infer from this that the writer had just been at 
Miletum. 5 The language of the concluding verses of the Acts 
warrants the impression that Paul's confinement ended some 
time before the history was completed ; for had the apostle 
been still in bondage, it would not have been said that, when 
a prisoner, he dwelt for two whole years in his own hired 
house — thereby implying that the period of his residence, at 
least in that abode, had terminated. And if Paul was re- 
leased at the expiration of these two years, we can well under- 
stand why the sacred historian did not give an account of his 
liberation. The subjects of Rome at that time were literally 
living under a reign of terror ; and if Paul, as Peter once 
before, 6 was miraculously delivered, prudence required the 

1 rbv tyelovrjv. Some think that he wished for the cloak to protect him 
against the cold of winter. See 2 Tim. iv. 21. 

2 In the " Life of St. Columba " by Adamnan (Dublin, 1857), the editor, 
Dr. Reeves, has given an interesting account of an ancient leather book- 
case in his own possession. See " Life of St. Columba," p. 115. If Paul re- 
ferred to a case, it was probably to one of a larger description. 

3 2 Tim. iv. 13. In the anticipation of his death, he perhaps wished to 
give the documents as a legacy to some of his friends. Among them may 
have been Scripture autographs. 

4 2 Tim. iv. 20. uTreXtirov. The translation "they left," instead of"/ 
left," is given up even by Dr. Davidson, though he rejects the idea of a 
second imprisonment. See his " Introduction to the New Testament," 
iti. 53. 

5 Miletum, or Miletus, in Crete, is mentioned by Homer, " Iliad," ii. 647. 

6 Acts xii. 6-9. 



I38 PAUL'S SECOND IMPRISONMENT. 

concealment of his subsequent movements. Or, the history 
of his release may have been so mixed up with the freaks of 
the tyrant who then oppressed the Roman world, that its pub- 
lication would have brought down the imperial vengeance on 
the head of the evangelist. 

We have seen that Paul arrived in Rome as a prisoner in 
the beginning of A.D. 61 ; and if at this time his confinement 
continued only two years, he was liberated in the early part of 
A.D. 63. Nero had not yet commenced his memorable perse- 
cution of the Church ; for the burning of the city took place 
in the summer of A.D. 64; and, till that date, the disciples 
were not singled out as the special objects of his cruelty. It 
is probable that Paul, after his release, accomplished his inten- 
tion of visiting the Spanish Peninsula j 1 and that, on his return 
to Italy, he wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews. 2 The destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem was now approaching ; and as the apostle 
demonstrates in this letter that the law was fulfilled in Christ, 
he thus prepares the Jewish Christians for the extinction of 
the Mosaic ritual. He once more visited Jerusalem, travelling 
to Corinth, 3 Philippi, 4 and Troas, 5 where he left for the use of 
Carpus the case with the books and parchments which he 
mentions in his Second Epistle to Timothy. Passing on to 
Colosse, 6 he perhaps visited Antioch in Pisidia and other cities 
of Asia Minor, the scenes of his early ministrations; and 
reached Jerusalem 7 byway of Antioch in Syria. He returned 
from Palestine to Rome by sea, leaving Trophimus sick 8 at 
Miletum in Crete. The journey did not occupy much time ; 
and, on his return to Italy, he was immediately incarcerated. 
His condition was now very different from what it had been 
during his former confinement ; for he was deserted by his 

1 See Euseb. ii. 22. 

2 Heb. xiii. 23, 24. In this epistle he apparently refers to his late im- 
prisonment, Heb. x. 34 ; but the reading of the textus receptus is here 
rejected by many of our highest critical authorities, such as Griesbach, 
Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Scholz. Respecting the second imprison- 
ment, see also Eusebius, ii. c. 22. 

3 2 Tim. iv. 20. * Phil. ii. 24. B 2 Tim. iv. 13. 
6 Philem. 22. 7 Heb. xiii. 23. 8 2 Tim. iv. 20. 






PAUL S MARTYRDOM. 1 39 

friends and treated as a malefactor. 1 When he wrote to 
Timothy he had already been brought before the judgment- 
seat, and had narrowly escaped martyrdom. " At my first 
answer," says he, " no man stood with me, but all men forsook 
me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. 
Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened 
me, that by me the preaching might be fully known, and 
that all the Gentiles might hear ; 2 and I was delivered out of 
the mouth of the lion." 3 The prospect, however, still con- 
tinued gloomy ; and he had no hope of ultimate escape. In 
the anticipation of his condemnation, he wrote those words 
so full of Christian faith and heroism, " I am now ready to be 
offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have 
fought a good fight — I have finished my course — I have kept 
the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give 
me in that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also 
that love his appearing." 4 

Paul was martyred about A.D. 66. Tradition reports that 
he was beheaded ; 6 and as he was a Roman citizen, he could 
not have been legally condemned to any more ignominious 
fate. About the third or fourth century, a statement ap- 
peared to the effect that he and Peter were put to death at 
Rome on the same day ; 6 but all the early documentary evi- 
dence we possess is quite opposed to such a representation. 
If Peter really finished his career in the Western metropolis 
at the same time as the Apostle of the Gentiles, it is strange 
that Paul makes no reference, in any of his writings, to the 
presence of such a fellow-laborer in the capital of the Empire. 
In the Epistle to the Romans, containing so many salutations 
to the brethren in the great city, the name of Peter is not 
found ; and in none of the letters written from Rome is he 

1 2 Tim. iv. 16, ii. 9. 

2 This refers to some powerful defence of Christianity which he had made 
before the Gentile tribunal of Nero. 

3 2 Tim. iv. 16, 17. 4 2 Tim. iv. 6-8. ° Euseb. " Hist." ii. 25. 

8 Euseb. ii. 25. See the Note of Valesius on the words Kara rbv avrbv 
naipbv. See also Davidson s " Introduction to the New Testament," iii. 361. 



/ 



140 PETER. 

ever mentioned. In the last of his Epistles — the Second to 
Timothy — the writer says, " only Luke is with me " ! — and 
had Peter then been in the place, Paul would not have thus 
ignored the existence of the apostle of the circumcision. 

Though Rome has been so long known in ecclesiastical 
annals as " the see of Peter," it is remarkable that the New 
Testament nowhere reports the presence of the apostle of 
the circumcision in the Western capital. The legend that he 
was crucified there with his head downwards 2 at his own re- 
quest — as a mode of suffering more painful and ignominious 
than the doom of his Master 3 — is evidently the invention of 
an age when the pure light of evangelical religion was greatly 
obscured ; for the apostle was too well acquainted with the 
truth to believe that he was at liberty to inflict on himself 
any unnecessary suffering.// The story that he was the first 
bishop of Rome is a stupid fable. We know, from the Epis- 
tle of Clemens Romanus, that episcopal government was not 
established in the great city until long afterward. The allega- 
tion, that he occupied the see for five and twenty years, is a 
monstrous fabrication which the plainest historical testimony 
totally discredits. /We have every reason to believe that he 
suffered martyrdom ; 4 but the place of his death must per- 
haps forever remain a mystery. 6 According to a tradition of 
high antiquity, it occurred at Rome ; but the statements re- 
lating to it are so unsatisfactory, so mixed up with incredible 
details, and presented under such suspicious circumstances, 

1 2 Tim iv. ii. 

2 Reported by Eusebius iii. i. 

3 The idea, that crucifixion with the head downwards aggravates the 
suffering, is unfounded. It vastly diminishes it by speedily causing death. 
But it was once considered a more dreadful form of torture, and hence we 
find persons thus put to death. See Euseb. viii. 8. 

4 Our Lord apparently refers to the violent death of the apostle in John 
xxi. 1 8, 19. 

5 Caius, a Roman presbyter who flourished in the early part of the third 
century, refers to the Vatican and the Ostian Way as the places where 
Peter and Paul suffered (Routh's " Reliquiae," ii. p. 127) ; but this writer lived 
nearly a century and a half after the demise of the apostles, and almost 
every tale told respecting them then obtained ready credence. 



PETER. 141 

that, in relation to them, we can not safely adopt any very 
definite conclusion. 

The Second Epistle of Peter was written soon after the first, 
and was addressed to the same Churches. 1 The author now 
contemplated the near approach of death, so that the advices 
he here gives may be regarded as his dying instructions. " I 
think it meet," says he, "as long as I am in this tabernacle* 
to stir you up by putting you in remembrance — knowing that 
shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord 
Jesus Christ hath showed me." 3 It deserves notice that in 
this second epistle, Peter bears emphatic testimony to the 
character and inspiration of Paul. The Judaizing party were 
in the habit of pleading that they were supported by the au- 
thority of the apostle of the circumcision ; and as many of 
these zealots were to be found in the Churches of Asia Minor, 4 
such a recognition of the claims of the Apostle of the Gen- 
tiles was calculated to exert a most salutary influence. " The 
strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, 
Asia, and Bithynia," 5 were thus given to understand that all 
the true heralds of the Gospel had but " one faith"; and that 
any attempt to create divisions in the Church, by representing 
the doctrine of one inspired teacher as opposed to the doc- 
trine of another, was most unwarrantable. The reference to 
Paul, to be found in the Second Epistle of Peter, is favorable 
to the supposition that the Apostle of the Gentiles was now 
dead ; as, had he been still living to correct such misinterpre- 
tations, it would scarcely have been said that in all his epistles 
were things "hard to be understood " which " the unlearned 
and unstable " wrested " unto their own destruction." 6 It 
would seem, too, that Peter here alludes particularly to the 
Epistle to the Hebrews — a letter, as we have seen, addressed 
to Jewish Christians, and written after Paul's liberation from 
his first Roman imprisonment. This letter contains passages 7 

1 2 Pet. i. 12, iii. 1. 

2 These words suggest that the preceding letter was written not long be- 
fore. 

3 2 Pet i. 13, 14. * Gal. iv. 17, 21, vi. 12 ; Col. ii. 16-18. 

5 1 Pet. i. 1. 6 2 Pet. iii. 16. 7 As Heb. vi. 4-6, vii. 1-3, ix. 17. 



142 PETER AND PAUL. 

which have often proved perplexing to interpreters ; but, not- 
withstanding, it bears the impress of a divine original ; and 
Peter, who maintains that all the writings of Paul were dic- 
tated by unerring wisdom, places them upon a level with " the 
other Scriptures, " 1 either of the evangelists or of the Old 
Testament. 

In the New Testament it is impossible to find a trace of 
either the primacy of Peter, or the supremacy of the Pope ; 
but the facts already stated throw some light on the history 
of that great spiritual despotism whose seat of government 
has been so long established in the city of the Caesars. At a 
very early period various circumstances contributed to give 
prominence to the Church of Rome. The epistle addressed 
to it contains a more complete exhibition of Christian doc- 
trine than any other of the apostolical letters ; and, in that 
remarkable communication, Paul expresses an earnest desire 
to visit a community already celebrated all over the world. 
Five or six of his letters, forming part of the inspired canon, 
were dictated in the capital of the Empire. There is every 
reason to believe that the Book of the. Acts was written at 
Rome, and that the great city was also the birthplace of the 
Gospels of Mark and Luke. Thus, a large portion of the New 
Testament issued from the seat of Empire. Rome boasts that 
it was for some time the residence of apostles, and Paul was 
there for at least two years as a prisoner. Some of the most 
illustrious of the early converts were members of the Church 
of Rome ; for in the days of the Apostle of the Gentiles there 
were disciples in " Caesar's household." 2 And when Nero sig- 
nalized himself as the first Imperial persecutor of the Chris- 
tians, the Church of Rome suffered terribly from his insane 
and savage cruelty. Even the historian Tacitus acknowledges 
that the tortures to which its adherents were exposed excited 
the commiseration of the heathen multitude. Paul and others 
were cut off in his reign ; and the soil of Rome absorbed the 
blood of many martyrs. It was not strange, therefore, that 
the Roman Church was soon regarded with peculiar respect 
by all the disciples throughout the Empire. As time passed 
1 2 Pet. iii. 1 6. * 3 Phil. iv. 22. 






THE CHURCH OF ROME. I43 

on, it increased rapidly in numbers and in affluence ; and cir- 
cumstances, which properly possessed nothing more than an 
historic interest, began to be urged as arguments in favor of 
its claims to pre-eminence. At first these claims assumed no 
very definite form ; and, at the termination of a century after 
the days of Paul, they amounted simply to the recognition of 
something like an honorary precedence. At that period it 
was deemed equally imprudent and ungracious to quarrel with 
its pretensions, especially as the community by which they 
were advanced was distributing its bounty all around, and was 
itself nobly sustaining the brunt of almost every persecution. 
In the course of time, the Church of Rome proceeded to chal- 
lenge a substantial supremacy ; and then the facts of its early 
history were misstated and exaggerated in accommodation to 
the demands of its growing ambition. It was said at first that 
" its faith was spoken of throughout the whole world "; it 
was at length contended that its creed should be universally 
adopted. It was admitted at an early period that, as it had 
enjoyed the ministrations of Paul, it should be considered an 
apostolic church ; it was soon reported that Peter also was one 
of its teachers ; and it was at length asserted that, as an apos- 
tle was entitled to deference from ordinary pastors, a church 
instructed by two of the most eminent apostles had a claim to 
the obedience of other churches. In process of time it was 
discovered that Paul was rather an inconvenient companion 
for the apostle of the circumcision ; and Peter alone then 
began to be spoken of as the founder and first bishop of the 
Church of Rome. Strange to say, a system founded on a fic- 
tion has since sustained the shocks of many centuries. One 
of the greatest marvels of this " mystery of iniquity " is its te- 
nacity of life ; and did not the sure word of prophecy announce 
that the time should come when it would be able to boast of 
its antiquity, and did we not know that paganism can plead a 
more remote origin, we might be perplexed by its longevity. 
But " the vision is yet for an appointed time — at the end it 
shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it, because 
it will surely come, it will not tarry." x 

1 Hab. ii. 3. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE PERSECUTIONS OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH, AND ITS 

CONDITION AT THE TERMINATION OF THE 

FIRST CENTURY. 

JESUS Christ was a Jew, and it might have been expected 
that the advent of the most illustrious of His race, in the 
character of the Prophet announced by Moses, would be 
hailed with enthusiasm by His countrymen. But the result 
was far otherwise. " He came unto his own, and his own 
received him not." 1 The Jews cried, "Away with him, 
away with him, crucify him "; 2 and He suffered the fate of 
the vilest criminal. The enmity of the posterity of Abraham 
to our Lord did not terminate with His death; they long 
maintained the bad pre-eminence of being the most inveterate 
of the persecutors of His early followers. When the awful 
portents of the Passion, and the marvels of the day of Pente- 
cost were still fresh in public recollection, their chief priests 
and elders threw the apostles into prison ; 3 and soon after- 
ward the pious and intrepid Stephen fell a victim to their 
malignity. Their infatuation was extreme ; and yet it was 
not unaccountable. They looked, not for a crucified, but for 
a conquering Messiah. They imagined that the Saviour, after 
breaking their Roman yoke, would make Jerusalem the capi- 
tal of a prosperous and powerful empire ; and that all the 
ends of the earth would celebrate the glory of the chosen peo- 
ple. Their vexation, therefore, was intense when they dis- 
covered that so many of the seed of Jacob acknowledged the 
son of a carpenter as the Christ, and made light of the dis- 
tinction between Jew and Gentile. In their case the natural 

1 John i. ii. 2 John xix. 15. 3 Acts iv. 3, v. 18. 

(144) 



JEWISH PERSECUTION. 145 

aversion of the heart to a pure and spiritual religion was in- 
flamed by national pride combined with mortified bigotry ; 
and the fiendish spirit which they so frequently exhibited in 
their attempts to exterminate the infant Church thus admit 
of the most satisfactory explanation. 

Many instances of their antipathy to the new sect have al- 
ready been noticed. In almost every town where the mission- 
aries of the cross appeared, the Jews " opposed themselves and 
blasphemed "; and magistrates speedily discovered that in no 
way could they more easily gain the favor of the populace 
than by inflicting sufferings on the Christians. Hence, as we 
have seen, at the time of Paul's second visit to Jerusalem after 
his conversion, Herod, the grandson of Herod the Great, 
"killed James, the brother of John, with the sword ; and, be- 
cause he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take 
Peter also." l The apostle of the circumcision was delivered 
by a miracle from his grasp ; but it is probable that other in- 
dividuals of less note felt the effects of his severity. Even in 
countries far remote from their native land, the posterity of 
Abraham were the most bitter opponents of Christianity. 2 As 
there was much intercourse between Palestine and Italy, the 
Gospel soon found its way to the seat of government, and it 
would appear that some civic disturbance created in the great 
metropolis by the adherents of the synagogue, and intended 
to annoy and intimidate the new sect, prompted the Emperor 
Claudius, about A.D. 53, to interfere in the manner described 
by Luke, and to command "all Jews to depart from Rome." 3 
But the hostility of the Israelites was most formidable in their 

1 Acts xii. 2, 3. 2 See Acts xvii. 5, xviii. 12. 

3 Acts xviii. 2. Suetonius in Claud, (c. 25), says, " Juclasos impulsore 
Chresto assidue tumultuantes Roma expulit." The words Christus and 
Chrestus were often confounded, and it is probable that the historian here 
refers to some riotous proceedings among the Jews in Rome arising out of 
discussions relative to Christianity. These disturbances took place about 
A.D. 53. Even in the beginning of the third century the Christians were 
sometimes called Chrestiani. Hence, Tertullian says, " Sed et cum per- 
peram Chrestianus pronunciatur a vobis, nam nee nominis certa est notitia 
penes vos, de suavitate vel benignitate compositum est." " Apol." c. iii. 
See also " Ad Nationes," lib. i. c. 3. 
10 



146 JEWISH PERSECUTION. 

own country, and for this, as well as other reasons, " the breth- 
ren which dwelt in Judea " specially required the sympathy of 
their fellow-believers throughout the Empire. When Paul ap- 
peared in the temple at the feast of Pentecost in A.D. 58, the 
Jews, as already related, made an attempt on his life ; and 
when the apostle was rescued by the Roman soldiers, a con- 
spiracy was formed for his assassination. Four years after- 
ward, or in A.D. 62/ another apostle, James, surnamed the 
Just, who resided chiefly in Jerusalem, finished his career by 
martyrdom. Having, on a great public occasion, proclaimed 
Jesus to be the true Messiah, his fellow-citizens were so indig- 
nant that they threw him from a pinnacle of the temple. As 
he was still alive when he reached the ground, he was forth- 
with assailed with a shower of stones, and beaten to pieces 
with the club of a fuller. 2 

As the Christians were at first confounded with the Jews, 
the administrators of the Roman law, for upwards of thirty 
years after our Lord's death, conceded to them the religious 
toleration enjoyed by the seed of Abraham. But, from the 
beginning, "the sect of the Nazarenes " enjoyed very little of 
the favor of the heathen multitude. Paganism had set its 
mark upon all the relations of life, and had erected an idol 
wherever the eye could turn. It had a god of War, and a god 
of Peace ; a god of the Sea and a god of the Wind ; a god of 
the River, and a god of the Fountain ; a god of the Field, and 
a god of the Barn Floor ; a god of the Hearth, and a god of 
the Threshold ; a god of the Door, and a god of the Hinges. 5 
When we consider its power and prevalence in the apostolic 
age, we need not wonder at the declaration of Paul, " All that 
will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." * 

1 See Greswell's "Dissertations," iv. p. 233. 2 Eusebius, ii. 23. 

3 " Certi enim esse debemus, si quos latet per ignorantiam literature secu- 
laris, etiam ostiorum deos apud Romanos, Cardeam a cardinibus appella- 
tam, et Forculum a foribus, et Limentinum a limine, et ipsum Janum a 
janua." Tertullian, " De Idololatria," c. 15. See also the same writer '' Ad 
Nationes," ii. c. 10, 15; and "De Corona," 13; and Augustine's " City of 
God," iv. 8. 

4 2 Tim. iii. 12. Cyprian touches on the same subject in his Treatise on 
the " Vanity of Idols," c. 2. 



PERSECUTION BY NERO. 147 

Whether the believer entered any social circle, or any place of 
public concourse, he was constrained in some way to protest 
against dominant errors ; and almost exactly in proportion to 
his consistency and conscientiousness, he was sure to incur the 
dislike of the more zealous votaries of idolatry. Hence it was 
that the members of the Church were so soon regarded by the 
pagans as a morose generation instinct with hatred to the 
human race. In A.D. 64, when Nero, in a fit of recklessness, 
set fire to his capital, he soon discovered that he had, to a dan- 
gerous extent, provoked the wrath of the Roman citizens, and 
he attempted, in consequence, to divert the torrent of public in- 
dignation from himself by imputing the mischief to the Chris- 
tians. They were already odious as the propagators of what 
was considered " a pernicious superstition," and the tyrant 
reckoned that the mob of the metropolis were prepared to be- 
lieve any report to the discredit of these sectaries. But even 
the pagan historian who records the commencement of this 
first imperial persecution, and who was deeply prejudiced 
against the disciples of our Lord, bears testimony to the false- 
hood of the accusation. Nero, says Tacitus, " found wretches 
who were induced to confess what they were, and, on their 
evidence, a great multitude of Christians were convicted, not, 
indeed, on clear proof of their having set the city on fire, but 
rather on account of their hatred of the human race. 1 They 
were put to death amidst insults and derision. Some were 
covered with the skins of wild beasts, and left to be torn to 
pieces by dogs ; others were nailed to the cross ; and some, 

J The Christians were familiar with the idea of the conflagration of the 
world, and there is much plausibility in the conjecture that, as they gazed 
on the burning city, they gave utterance to expressions which were misun- 
derstood, and which awakened suspicion. " Some," says Dean Milman, 
V in the first instance, apprehended and examined, may have made ac- 
knowledgments before a passionate and astonished tribunal, which would 
lead to the conclusion that, in the hour of general destruction, they had 
some trust, some security, denied to the rest of mankind ; and this exemp- 
tion from common misery, if it would not mark them out, in some dark man- 
ner, as the authors of the conflagration, at all events would convict them 
of that hatred of the human race so often advanced against the Jews." — 
Mi/man's History of Christianity, ii. 37, 38. 



I48 FALL OF JERUSALEM. 

covered over with inflammable matter, were lighted up, when 
the day declined, to serve as torches during the night. The 
Emperor lent his own gardens for the exhibition. He added 
the sports of the circus, and assisted in person, sometimes 
driving a curicle, and occasionally mixing with the rabble in 
his coachman's dress. At length these proceedings excited a 
feeling of compassion, as it was evident that the Christians 
were destroyed, not for the public good, but as a sacrifice to 
the cruelty of a single individual." ' 

Some writers have maintained that the persecution under 
Nero was confined to Rome ; but various testimonies concur 
to prove that it extended to the provinces. Paul contem- 
plates its spread throughout the Empire when he tells the 
Hebrews that they had " not yet resisted nnto blood, striving 
against sin," 2 and when he exhorts them not to forsake the 
assembling of themselves together as they " see the day ap- 
proaching!' 3 Peter, also, as has been stated in a preceding 
chapter, refers to the same circumstance in his letter to the 
brethren " scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, 
Asia, and Bithynia," when he announces " the fiery trial " 
which was " to try " them, 4 and when he tells them of "judg- 
ment " beginning " at the house of God." 6 If Nero enacted 
that the profession of Christianity was a capital offence, his 
law was in force throughout the Roman world ; and an early 
ecclesiastical writer positively affirms that he was the author 
of such sanguinary legislation. 6 The horror with which his 
name was so long regarded by members of the Church in all 
parts of the Empire 7 strongly corroborates the statement that 
the attack on the disciples in the capital was only the signal 
for the commencement of a general persecution. 

Nero died A.D. 68, and the war which involved the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem and of upwards of a million of the Jews, was 
already in progress. The holy city fell A.D. 70 ; and the Mo- 
saic economy, which had been virtually abolished by the death 

1 Tacitus, " Annal." xv. 44. 2 Heb xii. 4. 3 Heb. x. 25. 

* 1 Pet. iv. 12. 6 1 Pet. iv. 17. 6 Tertullian, " Ad Nationes," i. 7. 

T See "De Mortibus Persecutorum," c. 2, and Sulpitius Severus, lib. ii., 
p. 139 ; Edit. Leyden, 1635. 



PERSECUTION BY DOMITIAN. 149 

of Christ, now reached its practical termination. At the same 
period the prophecy of Daniel was literally fulfilled ; for " the 
sacrifice and the oblation " were made to cease, 1 as the demoli- 
tion of the temple and the dispersion of the priests put an end 
to the celebration of the Levitical worship. The overthrow of 
the metropolis of Palestine contributed in various ways to the 
advancement of the Christian cause. Judaism, no longer able 
to provide for the maintenance of its ritual, was exhibited to 
the world as a defunct system ; its institutions, more narrowly 
examined by the spiritual eye, were discovered to be but types 
of the blessings of a more glorious dispensation ; and many 
believers, who had hitherto adhered to the ceremonial law, 
discontinued its observances. Christ, forty years before, had 
predicted the siege and desolation of Jerusalem; 2 and the re- 
markable verification of a prophecy, delivered at a time when 
the catastrophe was exceedingly improbable, induced not a 
few to think more favorably of the credentials of the Gospel. 
In another point of view the ruin of the ancient capital of Judea 
proved advantageous to the Church. In the subversion of 
their chief city the power of the Jews sustained a shock from 
which it has never since recovered ; and the disciples were 
partially delivered from the attacks of their most restless and 
implacable persecutors. 

Much obscurity rests upon the history of the period which 
immediately follows the destruction of Jerusalem. Though 
Philip and John, 3 and perhaps one or two more of the apostles, 
still survived, we know almost nothing of their proceedings. 
After the death of Nero the Church enjoyed a season of re- 
pose, but when Domitian, in A.D. 81, succeeded to the govern- 
ment, the work of persecution recommenced. The new sov- 
ereign, who was of a gloomy and suspicious temper, encouraged 
a system of espionage ; and as he imagined that the Christians 
fostered dangerous political designs, he treated them with the 
greater harshness. The Jewish calumny, that they aimed at 

1 Dan. ix. 27. 

2 Matt. xxiv. 2, 15, 16, 34 ; Mark xii. 2, 14, 30 ; Luke xxi. 6, 20, 21, 24, 32. 

3 See Euseb. iii. 31. 



ISO PERSECUTION BY DOMITIAN. 

temporal dominion, and that they sought to set up " another 
king, one Jesus," 1 had obviously produced an impression on 
his mind ; and he accordingly sought out the nearest kinsmen 
of the Messiah, that he might remove these heirs of the rival 
dynasty. But when the two grandchildren of Jude, 2 called 
the brother of our Lord, 3 were conducted to Rome, and 
brought to his tribunal, he discovered the groundlessness of 
his apprehensions. The individuals who had inspired the 
Emperor with such anxiety, were the joint proprietors of a 
small farm in Palestine, which they cultivated with their own 
hands ; and the jealous monarch at once saw that when his 
fears had been excited by reports of the treasonable designs of 
such simple and illiterate husbandmen, he had been miserably 
befooled. After a single interview, these poor peasants met 
with no farther molestation from Domitian. 

Had all the disciples been in such circumstances as the 
grandchildren of Jude, the Gospel might have been identified 
with poverty and ignorance ; and it would have been said that 
it was fitted to make way only among the dregs of the popu- 
lation. But it was never fairly open to this objection. From 
the very first it reckoned among its adherents at least a sprin- 
kling of the wealthy, the influential, and the educated. Joseph 
of Arimathea, one of the primitive followers of our Lord, was 
" a rich man " and an " honorable counsellor"; 4 Paul himself, 
as a scholar, stood high among his countrymen, for he had 
been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel ; and Sergius Paulus, 
one of the first-fruits of the mission to the Gentiles, was a 
Roman Proconsul. 5 In the reign of Nero the Church could 
boast of some illustrious converts ; and the saints of " Caesar's 
household " are found addressing their Christian salutations 
to their brethren at Philippi. 6 In the reign of Domitian the 
Gospel still continued to have friends among the Roman no- 
bility. Flavius Clemens, a person of consular dignity, and the 
cousin of the Emperor, was put to death for his attachment 

1 Acts xvii. 7. 2 Euseb. iii. 20. 

8 Matt. xiii. 55. See Greswell's "Dissertations," ii. 114, 121, 122. 

* Matt, xxvii. 57 ; Mark xv. 43. 6 Acts xiii. 7. 6 Phil. iv. 22. 



THE APOSTLE JOHN. 151 

to the cause of Christ ; ' and his near relative, Flavia Domi- 
tilla, for the same reason, was banished with many others to 
Pontia, 2 a small island off the coast of Italy used for the con- 
finement of State prisoners. 

Domitian governed the Empire fifteen years, but his perse- 
cution of the Christians was limited to the latter part of his 
reign. About this time the Apostle John, " for the word of God 
and for the testimony of Jesus Christ, " 3 was sent as an exile 
into Patmos, a small rocky island in the yEgaean Sea not far 
from the coast of Asia Minor. The tradition that he had pre- 
viously issued unhurt from a caldron of boiling oil into which 
he had been plunged in Rome by order of the Emperor — a 
story for which a writer who flourished about a century after- 
ward is the earliest voucher 4 — has been challenged as apocry- 
phal. 5 We have no means of ascertaining the length of time 
during which he remained in banishment ; 6 and all we know 
of this portion of his life is, that he had now those sublime 
and mysterious visions to be found in the Apocalypse. After 

1 Dio Cassius, lxvii. 14. 2 Euseb. Hi. 18. s Rev. i. 9. 

4 Tertullian, " De Praescrip. Hagret.," c. 36. 

6 See Mosheim, Cent, i., part i., ch. 5. 

6 According to Boronius (" Annal.," ad. an. 92, 98) John was six years in 
Patmos, or from a.d. 92 to a.d. 98. Other writers think that he was set at 
liberty some time before the death of Domitian, or about A.D. 95. Accord- 
ing to this reckoning, had he been six years in exile, he was banished A.D. 
89. This conclusion derives some countenance from the " Chronicon " of 
Eusebius, which represents the tyrant in the eighth and ninth years of his 
reign, or about a.d. 89, as proscribing and putting to death very many of 
his subjects. If the visions of the Apocalypse were vouchsafed to John in 
A.D. 89, the interval between their revelation and the establishment of the 
Pope as a temporal prince is found to be 755 — 89, or exactly 666 years. 
See Rev. xiii. 18. There is another very curious coincidence in this case ; 
for the interval between the fall of the Western Empire and the establish- 
ment of the Bishop of Rome as a temporal prince is 755 — 476 = 279 com- 
plete, or 280 current years, that is, 40 prophetic weeks. But it so happens 
that the period of human gestation is 40 weeks, and this would lead to the 
inference that the Man of Sin was conceived as soon as the Western Em- 
pire fell. See 2 Thess. ii. 7, 8. I am not aware that these remarkable 
coincidences have yet been noticed, and I therefore submit them to the 
consideration of the students of prophecy. 



152 THE APOSTLE JOHN. 

the fall of Jerusalem, as well as after he was permitted to 
leave Patmos, he appears to have resided chiefly in the metrop- 
olis of the Proconsular Asia ; and hence some ancient writers, 
who flourished when the episcopal system was established, 
have designated him " Bishop of Ephesus." ' But the apostle, 
when advanced in life, chose to be known simply by the title 
of " the elder"; a and though by far the most influential minis- 
ter of the district where he sojourned, he admitted his brethren 
to a share in the government of the Christian community. 
Like Peter and Paul before him, he acknowledged the other 
ciders as his " fellow-presbyters,'' 3 and, as became his age and 
apostolic character, he doubtless exhorted them to take heed 
unto themselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy 
Ghost had made them overseers. 4 

John was the last survivor of the apostles. He reached the 
advanced age of one hundred, and died about the close of the 
first century. He was a " Son of Thunder" 6 who long main- 
tained the reputation of a powerful and impressive preacher ; 
but when his strength began to give way beneath the pressure 
of increasing infirmities, he ceased to deliver lengthened dis- 
courses. When he addressed the congregation in extreme old 
age, he is reported to have simply repeated the exhortation, 
" Children, love one another"; and when asked why he always 
confined himself to the same brief admonition, he replied that 
11 no more was necessary." 8 Such a narrative is certainly quite 
in harmony with the character of the beloved disciple, for he 
knew that love is the " bond of perfectness " and the " fulfil- 
ling of the law." 

It has been thought that, toward the close of the first cent- 
ury, the Christian interest was in a languishing condition ; 7 
and the tone of the letters addressed to the Seven Churches 
in Asia is calculated to confirm this impression. The Church 
of Laodicea is described as " neither cold nor hot "; 8 the 
Church of Sardis is admonished to " strengthen the things 

1 See Burton's " Lectures," i. 361. 2 2 John 1 ; 3 John 1. 

3 1 Pet. v. 1 ; Philem. 1. 4 Acts xx. 28. 6 Mark iii. 17. 

e Jerome, " Comment, on Galatians," vi. 10. 
7 See Vitringa, " Observationes Sacras," lib. iv., c. J, 8. 8 Rev. iii. 16. 



EXTENSION OF CHRISTIANITY. 153 

which remain that are ready to die "; * and the Church of 
Ephesus is exhorted to " remember from whence she has 
fallen, and repent, and do the first works." 2 When it was 
known that Christianity was under the ban of a legal proscrip- 
tion, it was not strange that " the love of many " waxed cold ; 
and the persecutions of Nero and Domitian had a most dis- 
couraging influence. But though the Church had to encounter 
the withering blasts of popular odium and imperial intoler- 
ance, it struggled through an ungenial spring ; and, in almost 
every part of the Roman Empire, it had taken root and was 
beginning to exhibit tokens of a steady and vigorous growth 
as early as the close of the first century. The Acts and the 
apostolical epistles speak of the preaching of the Gospel in 
Palestine, Syria, Cyprus, Asia Minor, Greece, Illyricum, and 
Italy ; and, according to traditions which we have no reason 
to discredit, the way of salvation was proclaimed, before the 
death of John, in various other countries. It is probable that 
Paul himself assisted in laying the foundations of the Church 
in Spain ; at an early date there were disciples in Gaul ; and, 
before the close of the first century, the new faith had been 
planted even on the distant shores of Britain. 3 Mark labored , 
successfully as an evangelist in Alexandria, the metropolis of 
Egypt ; 4 and Christians were soon to be found in " the parts 
of Libya about Cyrene," 5 for the Jews from that district who 
were converted at Jerusalem by Peter's famous sermon on the 
day of Pentecost, did not fail, on their return home, to dis- 
seminate the precious truths by which they had been quick- 
ened and comforted. Thus, too, the Gospel soon found its 
way into Parthia, Media, Persia, Arabia, and Mesopotamia. 6 
Various traditions 7 attest that several of the apostles travelled 
eastward, after their departure from the capital of Palestine. 
Whilst Christianity, in the face of much obloquy, was gradu- 

1 Rev. iii. 2. 2 Rev. ii. 5. 

3 Claudia, the wife of Pudens, supposed to be mentioned 2 Tim. iv. 21, is 
said to have been a Briton by birth. See Fuller's " Church History of Brit- 
ain," vol. i., p. 11 ; Edit. London, 1837. 

4 Euseb. ii. 16. 5 Acts ii. 10. 6 Acts ii. 9, 11. 
7 See in Cave's " Fathers," Bartholomew, Matthew, and Thomas. 



154 PRACTICAL INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 

ally attracting more and more attention, it was at the same 
time nobly demonstrating its power as the great regenerator 
of society. The religion of pagan Rome could not satisfy the 
wants of the soul ; it could neither improve the heart nor in- 
vigorate the intellect ; and it was now rapidly losing its hold 
on the consciences of the multitude. The high places of 
idolatrous worship often exercised a most demoralizing influ- 
ence, as their rites were not unfrequently a wretched mixture 
of brutality, levity, imposture, and prostitution. Philosophy 
had completely failed to ameliorate the condition of man. The 
vices of some of its most distinguished professors were notori- 
ous ; its votaries were pretty generally regarded as a class of 
scheming speculators ; and they enjoyed neither the confi- 
dence nor the respect of the mass of the people. But, even 
under the most unpromising circumstances, Christianity accom- 
plished social and spiritual changes of a very extraordinary 
character. The Church of Corinth was one of the least exem- 
plary of the early Christian communities, and yet it stood on a 
moral eminence far above the surrounding population ; and, 
from the roll of its own membership, it could produce cases of 
conversion to which nothing parallel was found in the whole 
history of heathendom. Paul could say to it : " Neither forni- 
cators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abus- 
ers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor 
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the king- 
dom of God, and such were some of you ; but ye are washed, 
but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the 
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God." 1 Nor was this all. 
The Gospel proved itself sufficient to meet the highest aspira- 
tions of man. It revealed to him a Friend in heaven who 
" sticketh closer than a brother"; 2 and, as it assured him of 
eternal happiness in the enjoyment of fellowship with God, it 
imparted to him a " peace that passeth all understanding." 
The Roman people witnessed a new spectacle when they saw 
the primitive followers of Christ expiring in the fires of mar- 
tyrdom. The pagans did not so value their superstitions ; but 

1 1 Cor. vi. 9-1 1. 2 Prov. xviii. 24. 



PRACTICAL INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 1 55 

here was a religion which was accounted " better than life/* 
Well then might the flames which illuminated the gardens of 
Nero supply some spiritual light to the crowds who were pres- 
ent at the sad scene ; and, in the indomitable spirit of the first 
sufferers, the thoughtful citizen recognized a system which was 
destined yet to subdue the world. 



SECTION II. 



THE LITERATURE AND THEOLOGY OF THE APOSTOLIC 

CHURCH. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE NEW TESTAMENT, ITS HISTORY, AND THE AUTHORITY 

OF ITS VARIOUS PARTS. THE EPISTLE OF CLEMENT 

OF ROME. 

THE conduct of our Lord, as a religious teacher, betokened 
that He was more than man. Mohammed dictated the Koran, 
and left it behind him as a sacred book for the guidance of his 
followers ; many others, who have established sects, have also 
founded a literature for their disciples ; but Jesus Christ wrote 
nothing. The Son of God was not obliged to condescend to 
become His own biographer, and thus to testify of Himself. 
He had at His disposal the hearts and the pens of others ; and 
He knew that His words and actions would be accurately re- 
ported to the latest generations. During His personal minis- 
try, even His apostles were only imperfectly acquainted with 
His theology ; but, shortly before His death, He promised in 
due time to disclose more fully the nature and extent of the 
great salvation. He said to them : " The Comforter, which is 
the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he 
shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remem- 
brance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 1 .... He will guide 
you into all truth. " a 

The resurrection poured a flood of light into the minds of 

1 John xiv. 26. a John xvi. 13. 

(156) 



THE GOSPELS. 1 57 

the apostles, and they forthwith commenced with unwonted 
boldness to proclaim the truth in all its purity and power ; but 
no part of the evangelical history was written until upwards 
of twenty years after the death of our Saviour. 1 According to 
tradition, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke then ap- 
peared in the order in which they are now presented in our 
authorized version. 2 All these narratives were published sev- 
eral years before the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70; and as each 
contains our Lord's announcement of its speedy catastrophe, 
the exact fulfilment of so remarkable a prophecy led many to 
acknowledge the divine origin of the Christian religion. The 
Gospel of John is of a much later date, as it was written to- 
ward the conclusion of the century. 

Two of the evangelists, Matthew and John, were apostles ; 
and the other two, Mark and Luke, appear to have been of 
the number of the Seventy. 3 All were, • therefore, fully 
competent to bear testimony to the facts which they record, 
for the Seventy had " companied " with the Twelve " all the 
time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among" them, 4 
and all " were from the beginning eye-witnesses and ministers 
of the word." 5 These writers mention many miracles per- 

1 See Irenseus, " Adv. Hasres," iii. 1 ; and Euseb. vi. 14. 

2 It is probable that these three Gospels were written nearly at the same 
time. See Luke i. 3, 4, and Euseb. vi. 14. 

3 Origen, " Dial, de Recta in Deum Fide," sec. i., torn, i., p. 806 ; Edit. 
Delarue. Paris, 1733. See Whitby's " Preface to Luke." There is good 
reason to believe that the " young man " mentioned Mark xiv. 51, 52, was no 
other than Mark himself (Davidson's " Introduction to the New Testament," 
i. 139) ; and if so, we have thus additional evidence that the evangelist had 
enjoyed the advantages of our Lord's ministry. He had always been reputed 
the founder of the Church of Alexandria, and the testimony of Origen to the 
fact that he was one of the Seventy is therefore of special value ; as the 
Alexandrian presbyter was well acquainted with the traditions of the Church 
of the Egyptian metropolis. The genealogies of Matthew and Luke singu- 
larly corroborate what is stated in a preceding chapter respecting the Twelve 
and the Seventy. Bengel remarks that Matthew " begins with Abraham" 
but Luke " makes a full recapitulation and summary of the lineage of the 
whole human race, and exhibits with that lineage the Saviour's consanguin- 
ity to all Gentiles, as well as Jews." Gnomon on Matt. i. 16. 

4 Acts i. 21. 6 Luke i. 2. 



I58 THE GOSPELS. 

formed by Christ, and at least three of the Gospels were in 
general circulation whilst multitudes were still alive who are 
described in them as either the spectators or the subjects of 
His works of wonder ; and yet, though the evangelists often 
enter most minutely into details, so that their statements, if 
capable of contradiction, could have been at once challenged 
and exposed, we do not find that any attempt was mean- 
while made to impeach their accuracy. Their manner of re- 
cording the acts of the Great Teacher is characterized by re- 
markable simplicity; and the most acute reader in vain seeks 
to detect in it the slightest trace of concealment or exaggera- 
tion. Matthew artlessly confesses that he belonged to the 
odious class of publicans ; ' Mark tells how Peter, his friend 
and companion, " began to curse and to swear," and to de- 
clare that he knew not the Man ; 2 Luke, who was probably 
one of the two brethren who journeyed to Emmaus, informs 
us how Jesus drew near to them on the way and upbraided 
them as " fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the 
prophets had spoken "; 3 and John honestly repudiates the 
pretended prediction setting forth that he himself was not to 
die. 4 Each evangelist mentions incidents unnoticed by the 
others, and thus supplies proof that he is entitled to the 
credit of an original and independent witness. Matthew 
alone gives the formula of baptism " in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost "; 6 Mark 
alone speaks of the great amazement of the people as they 
beheld the face of Christ on His descent from the Mount of 
Transfiguration; 6 Luke alone announces the appointment of 
the Seventy; 7 and John alone records some of those sublime 
discourses in which our Lord treats of the doctrine of His 
Sonship, of the mission of the Comforter, and of the mysteri- 
ous union between Himself and His people. 8 All the evan- 
gelists direct our special attention to the scene of the cruci- 
fixion. As they proceed to describe it, they obviously feel 
that they are dealing with a transaction of awful import ; and 

1 Matt. ix. 9, x. 3. 2 Mark xiv. 71. 3 Luke xxiv. 25. 

4 John xxi. 23. 5 Matt, xxviii. 19. e Mark ix. 15. 

7 Luke x. 1. 8 John xiv., xv., xvi., xvii. 






THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 1 59 

they accordingly become more impressive and circumstantial. 
Their statements, when combined, furnish a complete and 
consistent narrative of the sore travail, the deep humiliation, 
and the dying utterances of the illustrious sufferer. 

If the appointment of the Seventy indicated our Lord's in- 
tention of sending the glad tidings of salvation to the ends of 
the earth, there was a peculiar propriety in the selection of an 
individual of their number as the historian of the earliest mis- 
sionary triumphs. When Luke records the wonderful suc- 
cess of Christianity among the Gentiles, he takes care to point 
out the peculiar features of the new economy ; and thus it is 
that his narrative abounds with passages in which the doc- 
trine, polity, and worship of the primitive disciples are illus- 
trated or explained. It is well known that the titles of the 
several parts of the New Testament were prefixed to them, 
not by their authors, but at a subsequent period by parties 
who had no claim to inspiration ; • and the book called " The 
Acts of the Apostles " has not been very correctly designated. 
It is confined almost exclusively to the acts of Peter and Paul, 
and it sketches only a portion of their proceedings. As its 
narrative terminates at the end of Paul's second year's impris- 
onment at Rome, it was probably written about that period. 
Superficial readers have objected to its information as curt 
and fragmentary; but the careful investigator will discover 
that it marks with great distinctness the most important 
stages in the early development of the Church. 2 It shows 
how Christianity spread rapidly among the Jews from the 
day of Pentecost to the martyrdom of Stephen ; it points out 
how it then took root among the Gentiles ; and it continues 
to trace its dissemination from Judea westward, till it was 
firmly planted by the apostle of the uncircumcision in the 
metropolis of the Empire. 

It would appear that some of the fourteen epistles of 
Paul were written before any other portion of the New Testa- 
ment, for we have already seen s that the greater number of 

1 See Home's " Introduction," ii. 173. Sixth Edition. 

2 See Eaumg-arten on Acts vii., viii., ix., xiii. 
9 Period i., sec., i., chap. 7, 8, 9. 



l6o THE EPISTLES OF PAUL. 

them were transmitted to the parties to whom they are ad- 
dressed during the time over which the Acts of the Apostles 
extend ; but though Luke makes no mention of these letters, 
his account of the travels of their author throws considerable 
light on the question of their chronology. Guided by state- 
ments which he supplies, and by evidence contained in the 
documents themselves, we have endeavored to point out the 
order of their composition. They are not placed chronologi- 
cally in the New Testament. The present arrangement is, 
however, of great antiquity, as it can be traced to the begin- 
ning of the fourth century ; J and it is made on the principle 
that the Churches addressed should be classed according to 
their relative importance. The Church of Rome at an early 
period was recognized as the most influential, and hence the 
Epistle to the Romans stands at the head of the collection. 
The Church of Corinth ranked next, and accordingly the 
Epistles to the Corinthians occupy the second place. The 
letters to the Churches are followed by those to individuals, 
that is, to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon ; and the Epistle to 
the Hebrews is put last, because it is anonymous. Some 
have contended that this letter was composed by Barnabas ; 
others have ascribed it to Clement, or Luke, or Silas, or Apol- 
los ; but, though Paul has not announced his name, the ex- 
ternal and internal evidences concur to prove that he was its 
author. 2 

" Every word of God is pure," 3 but the word of man is 
often deceitful ; and nowhere are his fallibility and ignorance 
revealed more conspicuously than in his appendages to Script- 
ure. Even the titles prefixed to the writings of the apostles 
and evangelists are redolent of superstition ; for no satisfac- 
tory reason can be given why the designation of saint 4 has 

1 Home, iv. 359. 

8 See Wordsworth "On the Canon," Lectures viii. ix. 3 Prov. xxx. 5. 

4 This designation is not found in the most ancient manuscripts. Thus, 
in the very ancient " Recension .of the Four Gospels in Syriac," recently 
edited by Dr. Cureton, we have simply — "Gospel of Mark" — " Gospel of 
John," etc. See p. 6, Preface. See also any ordinary edition of the Greek 
Testament. 



THE GENERAL EPISTLES. l6l 

been bestowed on Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, when it 
is withheld, not only from Moses and Isaiah, but also from 
such eminently holy ministers as Timothy and Titus. The 
postscripts to the epistles of Paul have been added by tran- 
scribers, and are also calculated to mislead. Thus, the Epistle 
to the Galatians is said to have been " written from Rome," 
though it is now generally acknowledged that Paul was not 
in the capital of the Empire till after that letter was dictated. 
The first Epistle to Timothy is dated " from Laodicea, which 
is the chiefest city of Phrygia Pacatiana"; but it is well 
known that Phrygia was not divided into Phrygia Prima, or 
Pacatiana, and Phrygia Secunda until the fourth century. 1 It 
is stated at the end of another epistle that it was " written to 
Titus, ordained the first Bishop of the Church of the Cre- 
tians "; but, as the letter itself demonstrates, Paul did not 
intend that Titus should remain permanently in Crete, 2 and 
it can be shown that, for centuries afterward, such a digni- 
tary as " the Bishop of the Church of the Cretians " was 
utterly unknown. 

The seven letters written by James, Peter, Jude, and John, 
are called General or Catholic epistles. The Epistle of James 
was addressed " to the twelve tribes scattered abroad " prob- 
ably in A.D. 61, and its author survived its publication little 
more twelve months. 3 Peter, as we have seen, wrote his two 
epistles only a short time before his martyrdom. 4 The Epis- 
tle of Jude is the production of a later period, as it contains 
quotations from the Second Epistle of Peter. 5 The exact 
dates of the Epistles of John can not now be discovered, but 
they supply internal proof that they were written toward the 
close of the first century. 6 

According to some, the Apocalypse, or Revelation of John, 
was drawn up before the destruction of Jerusalem, and in the 

1 Home, ii. 174. 9 Titus iii. 12. 

3 Some, however, assign to it a much earlier date. See Davidson's " In- 
troduction to the New Testament," iii. 320. 

4 See Period i., sec. i., chap. 10, p. 143. 

• * See Wordsworth " On the Canon," p. 273. 
•See Davidson's " Introduction," iii. 464, 491. 



1 62 THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON. 

time of the Emperor Nero ; but the arguments in support of 
so early an origin are very unsatisfactory. Ancient writers ' 
attest that it was written in the reign of Domitian toward the 
close of the first century, and the truth of this statement is 
established by various collateral evidences. 

The divine authority of the four Gospels and of the Acts 
of the Apostles was, from their first appearance, universally 
acknowledged in the ancient Church. 2 These books were 
publicly read in the religious assemblies of the primitive 
Christians, and were placed on a level with the Old Testament 
Scriptures. 3 The epistles of Paul occupied an equally honor- 
able position. 4 In the second and third centuries the Epistle 
to the Hebrews was not, indeed, received among the sacred 
books by the Church of Rome ; 5 but at an earlier period its 
inspiration was acknowledged by the Christians of the great 
city, for it is quoted as the genuine work of the Apostle Paul 
by an eminent Roman pastor who flourished in the first cent- 
ury. 6 The authority of two of the most considerable of the 
Catholic epistles — the First Epistle of Peter and the First 
Epistle of John — was never questioned ; 7 but, for a time, 
there were churches which doubted the claims of the five oth- 
ers to be ranked amongst " the Scriptures." 8 The multitude 
of spurious writings which were then abroad suggested to the 
disciples the necessity of caution, and hence suspicions arose 
in certain cases where they were destitute of foundation. But 
these suspicions, which never were entertained by more than 
a minority of the churches, gradually passed away ; and at 

1 Irenaeus, v. 30. Euseb. iii. 18. 

3 See Wordsworth "On the Canon," pp. 157, 160, 249 ; and Euseb. iii. 25. 

3 Justin Martyr, ap. i. 67. 4 2 Pet. iii. 16. 

'Wordsworth " On the Canon," p. 205. 

6 " The allusions to the Epistle to the Hebrews are so numerous that it is 
not too much to say that it was wholly transfused into Clement's mind." — 
Westcott on the Ca?wn, p. 32. See also Euseb. iii. 38. 

7 Wordsworth "On the Canon," p. 249. 

8 "The word (ypafyrj) translated Scripture, which properly means simply a 
writing, occurs fifty times in the New Testament ; and in all these fifty 
places, it is applied to the writings of the Old and New Testament, and to 
no other." — Wordsworth, pp. 185, 186. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON. 1 63 

length, toward the close of the fourth century the whole of 
what are now called the Catholic epistles were received, by 
unanimous consent, as inspired documents. 1 The Apocalypse 
was acknowledged to be a divine revelation as soon as it ap- 
peared ; and its credit remained unimpeached till the question 
of the Millennium began to create discussion. Its authentici- 
ty was then challenged by some parties who took an interest 
in the controversy ; but it still continued to be regarded as a 
part of Holy Scripture by the majority of Christians, and there 
is no book of the New Testament in behalf of which a title to 
a divine original can be established by more conclusive and 
ample evidence. 2 

We thus see that, with the exception of a few short epistles 
which some hesitated to accredit, the New Testament, in 
the first century, was acknowledged as the Word of God by 
all the Apostolical Churches. Its various parts were not 
then included in a single volume ; and as a considerable time 
elapsed before copies of every one of them were universally 
disseminated, it is not to be thought extraordinary if the ap- 
pearance of a letter, several years after it was written, and in 
quarters where it had been previously unknown, awakened 
suspicion or scepticism. But the slender objections, advanced 
under such circumstances, gradually vanished before the light 
of additional evidence ; and it may safely be asserted that the 
whole of the documents, now known as the Scriptures of the 
New Testament, were received, as parts of a divine revelation, 
by an overwhelming majority of the early Christians. The 
present division into chapters and verses was introduced at 
a period comparatively recent ; 3 but stated portions of the 

1 Wordsworth, pp. 249, 250. 

2 See Davidson's "Introduction," iii. 540-550. 

3 See Home's "Introduction," ii. 168. The author of the present di- 
vision into chapters is said to have been Hugo de Sancto Caro, a learned 
writer who flourished about the middle of the thirteenth century. The 
New Testament was first divided into verses by Robert Stephens in 1551. 
The Geneva New Testament, published in 1557, was the first English ver- 
sion into which these divisions of Stephens were introduced. The Church 
of Rome has adopted this Protestant arrangement. Stephens died at 
Geneva in 1559. 



164 THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON. 

writings of the apostles and evangelists were read by the 
primitive disciples at their religious meetings, and for the di- 
rection of the reader, as well as for the facility of reference, 
the arrangement was soon notified in the manuscripts by cer- 
tain marks of distinction. 1 It is well known that in the 
ancient Churches persons of all classes and conditions were 
encouraged and required to apply themselves to the study of 
the sacred records ; that even children were made acquainted 
with the Scriptures ; 2 and that the private perusal of the in- 
spired testimonies was considered an important means of 
individual edification. All were invited and stimulated by 
special promises to meditate upon the mysterious, as well as 
the plain, passages of the book of Revelation. " Blessed," 
says the Apostle John, " is he that readeth, and they that hear 
the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are 
written therein." 3 

The original manuscripts of the New Testament, which 
from the first were accessible to comparatively few, have all long 
since disappeared ; and it is now impossible to tell whether 
they were worn away by the corroding tooth of time, or 
destroyed in seasons of persecution. Copies of them were 
rapidly multiplied ; and though heathen adversaries displayed 
no small amount of malice and activity, it was soon found im- 
possible to effect their annihilation. It was not necessary that 
the apostolic autographs 4 should be preserved forever, as the 
records, when transcribed, still retained the best and clearest 
proofs of their inspiration. They did not require even the 
imprimatur of the Church, for they exhibited in every page 
the stamp of divinity; and as soon as they were published, 
they commended themselves by the internal tokens of their 
heavenly lineage to the acceptance of the faithful. " The 
Word of God is quick and powerful," and every one who pe- 
ruses the New Testament in a right spirit feels that it has 
emanated from the Searcher of hearts. It speaks to the con- 

1 Home ii. 169. a John v. 39 ; 2 Tim. iii. 15. 

* Rev. i. 3. See also 2 Peter i. 19. 

4 Paul's epistles were often written with the hand of another. See Rom. 
xvi. 22 ; 2 Thess. iii. 17. 



THE EPISTLE OF CLEMENT. . 165 

science ; it has all the simplicity and majesty of a divine com- 
munication ; it enlightens the understanding ; and it converts 
the soul. No mere man could have invented such a character 
as the Saviour it reveals ; no mere man could have contrived 
such a system of mercy as that which it announces. The 
New Testament is always on the side of whatsoever is just, 
and honest, and lovely, and of good report ; it glorifies God ; 
it alarms the sinner ; it comforts the saint. " The words of 
the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth 
purified seven times." * 

The excellence of the New Testament is displayed to sin- 
gular advantage when contrasted with those uninspired pro- 
ductions of nearly the same date which emanated from the 
companions of the apostles. The only genuine document of 
this nature which has come down to us, and which belongs to 
the first century, 2 is an epistle to the Corinthians. It was 
prepared immediately after the Domitian persecution, or about 
A.D. o,6, 3 with a view to heal certain divisions which had 
sprung up in the religious community to which it is addressed ; 
and, though written in the name of the Church of Rome, 
there is no reason to doubt that it is the composition of 
Clement, who was then at the head of the Roman presbytery. 
The advice which it administers is most judicious ; and the 
whole letter breathes the peaceful spirit of a devoted Chris- 
tian pastor. But it contains passages which furnish conclusive 
evidence that it has no claims whatever to inspiration ; and 
its illustration of the doctrine of the resurrection is in itself 
more than sufficient to demonstrate that it could not have 
been dictated under any supernatural guidance. " There is," 
says Clement, 4 " a certain bird called the phcenix. Of this 
there is never but one at a time, and that lives five hundred 

1 Ps. xii. 6. 

2 The epistle to Diognetus may have been written in the first century, 
but it is commonly referred to a later date. 

3 He speaks of the Church of Corinth at the time as " most ancient " 
(§ 47), and refers to the Domitian persecution. See Euseb. Hi. 15, 16. 

4 Tertullian also illustrates the resurrection by the story of the phcenix, 
"De Resurrec. Cam." c. 13. 



1 66 THE EPISTLE OF CLEMENT. 

years : and when the time of its dissolution draws near that 
it must die, it makes itself a nest of frankincense, and myrrh, 
and other spices, into which, when its time is fulfilled, it enters 
and dies. But its flesh putrefying breeds a certain worm 
which, being nourished with the juice of the dead bird, brings 
forth feathers ; and when it is grown to a perfect state, it 
takes up the nest in which the bones of its parent are, and 
carries it from Arabia into Egypt to a city called Heliopolis ; 
and flying in open day, in the sight of all men, lays it upon 
the altar of the Sun, and so returns from whence it came. 
The priests then search into the records of the time, and find 
that it returned precisely at the end of five hundred years." ' 

In point of education the authors of the New Testament 
did not generally enjoy higher advantages than Clement ; and 
yet, writing " as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," they 
were prevented from giving currency, even in a single in- 
stance, to such a story as this fable of the phoenix. All 
their statements will be found to be true, whether tried 
by the standard of mental or of moral science, of geography, 
or of natural history. The theology which they teach is at 
once sound and genial ; and those by whom it is appreciated 
can testify that whilst it invigorates and elevates the intellect, 
it also pacifies the conscience and purifies the heart. 

1 Clement's "Epistle to the Corinthians," § 25. The fragment of the 
second epistle is not generally considered genuine. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 

THE same system of doctrine is inculcated throughout the 
whole of the sacred volume. Though upwards of fifteen hun- 
dred years elapsed between the commencement and the com- 
pletion of the canon of Scripture ; though its authors were 
variously educated ; though they were distinguished as well 
by their tastes as by their temperaments ; and though they 
lived in different countries and in different ages, all the parts 
of the volume called the Bible exhibit the clearest indications 
of unity of design. Each writer testifies to the "one faith," 
and each contributes something to its illustration. Thus it is 
that even at the present day every book in the canon is "good 
to the use of edifying." The announcements made to our 
first parents will continue to impart spiritual refreshment to 
their posterity of the latest generations ; and the believer can 
now give utterance to his devotional feelings in the language 
of the Psalms, as appropriately as did the worshipper of old, 
when surrounded by all the types and shadows of the Leviti- 
cal ceremonial. 

The Old Testament is related to the New as the dawn to 
the day, or the prophecy to its accomplishment. Jesus ap- 
peared merely to consummate the Redemption which "the 
promises made to the fathers " had announced. " Think not," 
said He, "that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets, 
I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." * The mission of our 
Lord explained many things which had long remained myste- 
rious ; and, in allusion to the great amount of fresh informa- 

1 Matt. v. 17. 

(167) 



l68 JESUS THE CHRIST. 

tion thus communicated, He is said to have " brought life and 
immortality to light through the Gospel." 1 

When the apostles first became disciples of the Son of 
Mary, their views were certainly very indefinite and circum- 
scribed. Acting under the influence of strong attachment to 
the Wonderful Personage who exhibited such wisdom and 
performed so many mighty works, they promptly obeyed the 
invitation to come and follow Him ; and yet, when required 
to tell who was this Great Teacher to whom they were at- 
tached by the charm of such a holy yet mysterious fascina- 
tion, they could do little more than declare their conviction 
that JESUS was THE CHRIST. 3 They knew, indeed, that the 
Messiah, or the Great Prophet, was to be a Redeemer and a 
King; 3 but they did not understand how their lowly Master 
was to establish His title to such high offices. 4 Though they 
" looked for redemption " and " waited for the kingdom of 
God," 6 there was much that was vague as well as much that 
was visionary in their notions of the Redemption and the 
Kingdom. We may well suppose that the views of the mul- 
titude were still less correct and perspicuous. Some expected 
Christ as a prophet, to decide the ecclesiastical controversies 
of the age ; 6 others anticipated that, as Redeemer, He would 
deliver His countrymen from Roman domination ; T whilst 
others again cherished the hope that, as a King, He would 
erect in Judea a mighty monarchy." The expectation of the 
establishment of His temporal dominion was long entertained 
even by those who had been taught to regard Him as a spir- 
itual Saviour. 9 

During the interval between the resurrection and ascension 
the apostles profited greatly by the teaching of our Lord. 
" Then opened he their understanding that they might un- 
derstand the Scriptures," 10 showing that all things were " ful- 
filled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the 

1 2 Tim. i. 10. a Matt. xvi. 16 ; John i. 41. 

3 Luke xxiv. 19, 21 ; John i. 49. 4 Matt. xvi. 21, 22 ; John xii. 34. 

6 Mark xv. 43 ; Luke ii. 38. 6 John iv. 20-25. 

7 John xix. 12. 8 Matt. ii. 2, 3, xx. 21 ; John vi. 15. 
9 Acts i. 6. 10 Luke xxiv. 45. 



THE WRITTEN WORD. 1 69 

Prophets, and in the Psalms " J concerning Him. The true 
nature of Christ's Kingdom was now fully disclosed to them ; 
they saw that the history of Jesus was embodied in the an- 
cient predictions ; and their ideas were brought into harmony 
with the revelations of the Old Testament. On the day of 
Pentecost they received additional illumination ; and thus, 
maturely qualified for the duties of their apostleship, they be- 
gan to publish the great salvation. Even afterward their 
knowledge continued to expand ; for they had yet to be 
taught that the Gentiles also were heirs of the Kingdom of 
Heaven; 2 that uncircumcised believers were to be admitted to 
all the privileges of ecclesiastical fellowship ; 3 and that the cere- 
monial law had ceased to be obligatory. 4 

We do not require, however, to trace the progress of en- 
lightenment in the minds of the original heralds of the Gos- 
pel, that we may ascertain the doctrine of the Apostolic 
Church ; for in the New Testament we have a complete and 
unerring exposition of the faith delivered to the saints. We 
have seen that, with a few comparatively trivial exceptions, 
all the documents dictated by the apostles and evangelists 
were at once recognized as inspired ; 5 so that in them, com- 
bined with the Jewish Scriptures, we have a perfect ecclesi- 
astical statute-book. The doctrine set forth in the New Tes- 
tament was cordially embraced in the first century by all gen- 
uine believers. And it can not be too emphatically inculcated 
that the written Word was of paramount authority among the 
primitive Christians. The Israelites had traditions which they 
professed to have received from Moses, but our Lord repudi- 
ated these fables and asserted the supremacy of the Book of 
Inspiration. 6 In His own discourses He honored the Script- 
ures by continually quoting from them, 7 and He commanded 
the Jews to refer to them as the only sure arbiters of His pre- 
tensions. 8 The apostles followed His -example. More than 
one-half of the sermon preached by Peter on the day of Pen-' 

1 Luke xxiv. 44. 2 Acts x. 34, 35. s Acts xi. 3, 17. 

4 Heb. x. 1, 14, 18. 6 Period i., sec. ii., chap. 1. 6 Mark vii. 7-9. 

* Matt. iv. 1-10, xii. 3, 5, 7 ; Mark xii. 26. e John v. 39. 



170 THE WRITTEN WORD. 

tecost consisted of passages selected from the Old Testament. 1 
The Scriptures, too, inculcate not only their claims as stand- 
ards of ultimate appeal, but also their sufficiency to meet all 
the wants of the faithful ; for they profess to be " able to 
make wise unto salvation," a and to be " profitable for doc- 
trine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous- 
ness ; that the man of God may he perfect, tJwronghly fur- 
nished unto all good works." 3 The sacred records teach, with 
equal clearness, their own plenary inspiration. Each writer 
has peculiarities of style, and yet each uses language which 
the Holy Spirit dictates. In the New Testament a single 
word is more than once made the basis of an argument, 4 and 
doctrines are repeatedly established by a critical examination 
of particular forms of expression. 5 When statements ad- 
vanced by Moses or David or Isaiah are adduced, they are 
often prefaced with the intimation that thus " the Holy 
Ghost saith," 6 or thus " it is spoken of the Lord." 7 The 
apostles plainly aver that they employ language of infallible 
authority. " We speak," says Paul, " in the words which the 
Holy Ghost teacheth." 8 "All Scripture is given by inspira- 
tion of God." 9 

It is of unutterable importance to know that the Scriptures 
are the very word of the Lord, for they relate to our highest 
interests ; and were they of less authority, they could not com- 
mand our entire confidence. The momentous truths which 
they reveal are in every way worthy to be recorded in memo- 
rials given by inspiration of God. Under the ancient econo- 
my the sinner was assured of a Redeemer; 10 and intimations 
were not wanting that his deliverance would be wrought out 
in a way fitted to excite the wonder of the whole intelligent 
creation ; " but the New Testament lifts the veil, and sheds a 
glorious radiance over the revelation of mercy. According to 
the doctrine of the Apostolic Church the human race are at 

1 Acts ii. 14-36. 2 2 Tim. iii. 15. 3 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. 

4 Matt. xxii. 43, 45 ; Gal. iii. 16; Heb. ii. 8, n. 

6 John x. 34, 35 ; Heb. viii. 13. 6 Acts xxviii. 25 ; Heb. iii. 7. 

* Heb. i. 1, 2 ; Matt. i. 22, ii. 15. 8 1 Cor. ii. 13. 9 2 Tim. iii. 16. 

10 Gen. iii. 15 ; Ps. exxx. 7, 8; Dan. ix. 24. n Ps. xcviii. 1-/, ; Isa. ix. 6. 



FAITH IN CHRIST. 171 

once " guilty before God," '. and " dead in trespasses and 
sins"; 2 and as Christ in the days of His flesh called forth 
Lazarus from the tomb, and made him a monument of His 
wonder-working power, so by His word He still awakens dead 
sinners and calls them with an holy calling, that they may be 
trophies of His grace throughout all eternity. And as the 
restoration of hearing is an evidence of the restoration of life, 
so the reception of the word by faith is a sure token of spir- 
itual vitality. "He that heareth my word," said Christ, " and 
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall 
not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto 
lifer' 

Faith is to the soul of the believer what the living organs 
are to his body. It is the ear, the eye, the hand, and the 
palate of the spiritual man. By faith he hears the voice of 
the Son of God; 4 by faith he sees Him who is invisible; 6 by 
faith he looks unto Jesus; 6 by faith he lays hold upon the 
Hope set before him ; 7 and by faith he tastes that the Lord is 
gracious. 8 All the promises are addressed to faith ; and by 
faith they are appropriated and enjoyed. By faith the believer 
is pardoned, 9 sanctified, 10 sustained, 11 and comforted. 12 Faith is 
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things 
not seen ; 13 for it enables us to anticipate the happiness of 
heaven, and to realize the truth of God. 

The word of the Lord is to the faith of the Christian what 
the material world is to his bodily senses. As the eye gazes 
with delight on the magnificent scenery of creation,. the eye 
of faith contemplates with joy unspeakable the exceedingly 
great and precious promises. And as the eye can look with 
pleasure only on those objects which it sees, faith can rest 
with satisfaction only on those things which are written in the 
book of God's testimony. It has been "written that we might 
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that 
believing we might have life through his name." 14 

1 Rom. iii. 19. 2 Eph. ii. 1. 3 John v. 24. 4 Rev. iii. 20. 

Heb. xi. 27. 6 Heb. xii. 2. 7 Heb. vi. 18. 8 1 Pet. ii. 3. 

8 Rom. v. 1. 10 Acts xv. 9. n 1 John v. 4. 

12 Rom. v. 2. 13 Heb. xi. 1. u John xx. 31. 



172 THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 

The Scriptures are not to be' regarded as a storehouse of 
facts, promises, and precepts, without relation or dependency ; 
but a volume containing a collection of glorious truths, all 
forming one great and well-balanced system. Every part of 
revelation refers to the Redeemer"; and His earthly history is 
the key by means of which its various announcements may 
be illustrated and harmonized. /In the theology of the New 
Testament Christ is indeed the "All in all." In addition to 
many other illustrious titles which He bears, He is represented 
as " the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the 
world," 1 "the End of the Law for righteousness to every 
one that believeth," 2 " the Head of the Church," 3 "the King 
of kings," 4 and "the Hope of glory." 5 During His public 
ministry He performed miracles such as had been previously 
understood to mark the peculiar energy of Omnipotence ; for 
He opened the eyes of the blind; 8 He walked upon the 
waves of the sea; 7 He made the storm a calm; 8 and he de- 
clared 7 to man what was His thought. 9 In his capacity of 
Saviour He exercises attributes which are essentially divine ; 
as He redeems from all iniquity, 10 and pardons sin, 11 and sanc- 
tifies the Church, 12 and opens the heart, 13 and searches the 
reins. 14 Had Jesus of Nazareth failed to assert His divine 
dignity, the credentials of His mission would have been in- 
complete, for the Messiah of the Old Testament is no other 
than the Monarch of the universe. Nothing can be more 
obvious than that the ancient prophets invest Him with the 
various titles and attributes of Deity. He is called " the 
Lord," 16 "Jehovah," 16 and "God"; 17 He is represented as 
the object of worship; 18 He is set forth as the King's Son 

1 John i. 29. 2 Rom. x. 4. 3 Eph. v. 23. * Rev. xvii. 14. 

6 Col. i. 27. 6 Ps. cxlvi. 8, compared with John ix. 32, 33. 

7 Job ix. 8, compared with Matt. xiv. 25. 

8 Ps. cvii. 29, compared with Luke viii. 24. 

9 Amos iv. 13, compared with Matt. xii. 25, and John ii. 24, 25. 

10 Tit. ii. 14. " Mark ii. 5-10. 12 Eph. v. 26. 

13 Acts xvi. 14 ; Luke xxiv. 45 u Rev. ii. 23. 16 Mai. iii. 1. 

16 Isa. xl. 3, and vi. 1, compared with John xii. 38-41. 
" Isa. xl. 3, 9 ; Ps. xlv. 5. 18 Ps. ii. 12. 



THE DEITY OF CHRIST. 173 

who shall daily be praised ; 1 and He is exhibited as an Al- 
mighty and Eternal Friend in whom all that put their trust 
are blessed. 2 

During the public ministry of our Lord the Twelve were 
not altogether ignorant of His exalted dignity ; 3 and yet the 
most decisive attestations to His Godhead occur after His 
resurrection. 4 When the apostles surveyed the humble indi- 
vidual with whom they were in daily intercourse, it is not 
extraordinary that their faith faltered, and that their powers 
of apprehension failed, as they pondered the prophecies relat- 
ing to His advent. When they attempted closely to grapple 
with the amazing truths there presented to their contempla- 
tion, and thought of " the Word made flesh," well might they 
be overwhelmed with a feeling of giddy and dubious wonder. 
Even after the resurrection had illustrated so marvellously the 
announcements of the Old Testament, the disciples still con- 
tinued to regard them with a species of bewilderment; and 
our Saviour himself found it necessary to point out in detail 
their meaning and their fulfilment. " Beginning at Moses and 
all the prophets he expounded to them in all the Scriptures 
the things concerning himself." 6 The whole truth as to the 
glory of His person now flashed upon their minds, and hence- 
forth they do not scruple to apply to Him all the lofty titles 
bestowed of old on the Messiah. The writers of the New 
Testament say expressly that " Jesus is the Lord," 6 and "God 
blessed forever"; 7 they describe believers as trusting in Him, 8 
as serving Him, 9 and as calling upon His name; 10 and they 
tell of saints and angels uniting in the celebration of His 
praise. 11 Such testimonies amply illustrate their ideas of His 
dignity. 

1 Ps. lxxii. 15. 

2 Ps. ii. 12, compared with Ps. cxlvi. 3, 5, and Isa. xxvi. 4. 

3 John i. 49; Matt. xvi. 16, 17. 4 Such as John xx. 28, xxi. 17. 
5 Luke xxiv. 27. 6 1 Cor. xii. 3. 7 Rom. ix. 5. 

8 Eph. i. 12, 13 ; Matt. xii. 21. 9 Col. iii. 24. 

10 Acts ix. 14; 1 Cor. i. 2. 

11 Rev. v. 1 1— 13. Though modern criticism has shaken the credit of some 
passages usually quoted in support of the Deity of Christ, such as 1 Tim. iii. 
16, it has discovered others equally strong not now in the received text. 



174 THE ATONEMENT. 

Divine incarnations were recognized in the heathen myth- 
ology, so that the Gentiles could not well object to the doc- 
trine of the assumption of our nature by the Son of God ; 
but Christianity asserts its immense superiority to pagan- 
ism in its account of the design of the union of humanity and 
Deity in the person of the Redeemer. According to the 
poets of Greece and Rome, the gods often adopted material 
forms for the vilest of purposes : but the Lord of glory was 
made partaker of our flesh and blood, 1 to satisfy the claims of 
eternal justice, and purchase for us a happy and immortal in- 
heritance. In the cross of Christ sin appears " exceedingly 
sinful," and the divine law has been more signally honored by 
His sufferings than if all men of all generations had forever 
groaned under its chastisements. The Jewish ritual made the 
apostles perfectly familiar with the doctrine of atonement ; 
but they were " slow of heart to believe " that their Master 
was Himself the Mighty Sacrifice represented in the types of 
the Mosaic ceremonial. 2 The evangelist informs us that He 
expounded this subject after His resurrection, showing them 
that " thus it behoved Christ to suffer." 3 Still the crucifix- 
ion of the Saviour was to multitudes a " rock of offence." 
The ambitious Israelite, who expected the Messiah to go forth 
conquering and to conquer, and make Palestine the seat of 
universal empire, could not brook the thought that the Great 
Deliverer was to die ; and the learned Greek, who looked upon 
all religion with leering scepticism, was prepared to ridicule 
the idea of the burial of the Son of God ; but the very circum- 
stance which aroused such prejudices, suggested to those pos- 
sessed of spiritual discernment discoveries of stupendous 
grandeur. Justice demands the punishment of transgressors; 
mercy pleads for their forgiveness ; holiness requires the ex- 
ecution of God's threatenings ; goodness insists on the fulfil- 
ment of His promises ; and all these attributes are harmonized 

See Lachmann's text of Col. ii. 2, and 1 Pet. iii. 15 ; and Tregelles on John 
i. 18, and his " Additions " to the 4th vol. of Home's " Introduction," pp. 
780-81, London, i860. See also the Revised version of the New Testa- 
ment. 

1 Heb. ii. 14. 3 Matt. xvi. 22. 3 Luke xxiv. 46. 



PREDESTINATION AND THE TRINITY. 1 75 

in the doctrine of a Saviour sacrificed. God is " just, and the 
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." 1 The Son of Man 
"by His own blood obtained eternal redemption" 2 for His 
Church ; " mercy and truth meet together" in His expiation; 
and His death is thus the central point to which the eye of 
faith is now directed. Hence Paul says, " We preach Christ 
crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the 
Greeks foolishness ; but unto them which are called, both 
Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom 
of God." 3 

The doctrine of the Apostolic Church is simple and con- 
sistent, as well as spiritual and sublime. The way of redemp- 
tion it discloses is not an extempore provision of Supreme 
benevolence called forth by an unforeseen contingency, but a 
plan devised from eternity, and fitted to display all the divine 
perfections in most impressive combination. Whilst it recog- 
nizes the voluntary agency of man, it upholds the sovereignty 
of God. Jehovah graciously secures the salvation of every 
heir of the promises by both contriving and carrying out all 
the arrangements of the " well-ordered covenant." His 
Spirit quickens the dead soul, and works in us " to will and to 
do of his good pleasure." 4 "The Father hath chosen us in 
Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be 
holy and without blame before him in love ; having predes- 
tinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to 
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the 
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us ac- 
cepted in the Beloved." & 

The theological term Trinity was not in use in the days of 
the apostles, but it does not follow that the doctrine so desig- 
nated was then unknown ; for the New Testament clearly in- 
dicates that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost exist in 
the unity of the Godhead. 6 Neither can it be inferred from 
the absence of any fixed formula of doctrine that the early 
followers of our Lord did not all profess the same sentiments, 
for they had " one Lord, one faith, one baptism." 7 The docu- 

1 Rom. iii. 26. 2 Heb. ix. 12. 3 1 Cor. i. 24. 4 Phil. ii. 13. 

6 Eph. i. 4-6. 6 Matt, xxviii. 19 ; John x. 30, xv. 26. 7 Eph. iv. 5. 



176 BLESSEDNESS OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 

ment commonly called " the Apostles' Creed " is certainly of 
very great antiquity, but no part of it proceeded from those to 
whom it is attributed by its title ; ' and its rather bald and 
dry detail of facts and principles obviously betokens a decline 
from the simple and earnest spirit of primitive Christianity. 
Though the early converts, before baptism, made a declaration 
of their faith, 2 there is in the sacred volume no authorized 
summary of doctrinal belief; and in this fact we have a proof 
of the far-seeing wisdom by which the New Testament was 
dictated ; as heresy is ever changing its features, and a test 
of orthodoxy, suited to the wants of one age, would not ex- 
clude the errorists of another. It has been left to the exist- 
ing rulers of the Church to frame such ecclesiastical symbols 
as circumstances require ; and they are bound to search the 
Scriptures that they may be prepared to grapple successfully 
with errors as they appear. 

It may be added that the doctrine of the Apostolic Church 
is eminently practical. The great object of the mission of 
Jesus was to " save his people from their sins "; 3 and the 
tendency of all the teachings of the New Testament is to 
promote sanctification. But the holiness of the Gospel is not 
a shy asceticism which sits in a cloister in moody melancholy, 
so that its light never shines before men ; but a generous con- 
secration of the heart to God, which leads us to confess 
Christ in the presence of gainsayers, and which prompts us to 
delight in works of benevolence. The true Christian should 
be happy as well as holy ; for the knowledge of the highest 
truth is connected with the purest enjoyment. This " wisdom 
is better than rubies, and all the things that may be desired are 
not to be compared to it." * The Apostle Paul, when a 
prisoner at Rome, had comforts to which Nero was an utter 
stranger. Even then he could say, " I have learned in what- 
soever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how 
to be abased, and I know how to abound ; everywhere and in 
all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, 

1 See Bingham, iii. 323-327. ! Acts viii. 37 ; 1 Pet. Hi. 21. 

8 Matt. i. 21. 4 Prov. viii. 11. 



BLESSEDNESS OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 1 77 

both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through 
Christ which strengtheneth me." l When all around the be- 
liever is dark and discouraging, there is sunshine in his soul. 
There are no joys comparable to the joys of a Christian. 
They are the gifts of the Spirit of God, and the first-fruits of 
eternal blessedness ; they are serene and heavenly, solid and 
satisfying. 

1 Phil. iv. 11-14. 

12 



CHAPTER III. 

THE HERESIES OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 

The Greek word translated heresy ! in our authorized ver- 
sion of the New Testament, did not primarily convey an un- 
favorable idea. It simply denoted a choice or preference. It 
was often employed to indicate the adoption of a particular 
class of philosophical sentiments ; and thus it came to signify 
a sect or denomination. Hence we find ancient writers speak- 
ing of the heresy of the Stoics, the heresy of the Epicureans, 
and the heresy of the Academics. The Jews who used the 
Greek language did not consider that the word necessarily 
reflected on the party it was intended to describe ; and Jose- 
phus, who was himself a Pharisee, accordingly discourses of 
the three heresies of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the 
Essenes. 2 The Apostle Paul, when speaking of his own his- 
tory prior to his conversion, says, that " after the strictest 
heresy " of his religion he lived a Pharisee. 3 We learn, too, 
from the book of the Acts, that the early Christians were 
known as " the heresy of the Nazarenes." 4 But very soon 
the word began to be employed to denote something which 
the Gospel could not sanction ; and accordingly, in the Epis- 
tle to the Galatians, heresies are enumerated among the works 
of the flesh. 5 It is not difficult to explain why Christian 
writers at an early date were led to attach such a meaning to 
a term which had hitherto been understood to imply nothing 

1 " Alpeatg autem Graece, ab electione dicitur : quod scilicet earn sibi unus- 
quisque eligat disciplinary quam putat esse meliorem." — Hieronymus in 
Eftist. ad Galat. c. 5.. See also Tertullian, " De Praescrip." c. 6. 

3 " Life," § 2 ; " Antiq." xiii. 5, 9. 3 Acts xxvi. 5. 

4 Acts xxiv. 5. 6 Gal. v. 20. 

(178) 



EARLY HERETICS. 1 79 

reprehensible. The New Testament teaches us to regard an 
erroneous theology as sinful, and traces every deviation from 
" the one faith " of the Gospel to the corruption of a darkened 
intellect. 1 It declares, " He that believeth not is condemned 
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only- 
begotten Son of God ; and this is the condemnation, that 
light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather 
than light, because their deeds were evil." ' The most ancient 
ecclesiastical authors described all classes of unbelievers, scep- 
tics, and innovators, under the general name of heretics. Per- 
sons who in matters of religion made a false choice, of what- 
ever kind, were viewed as " vainly puffed up by a fleshly 
mind," or as under the influence of some species of mental 
depravity. 

Heresy, in the first century, denoted every deviation from 
the Christian faith. Pagans and Jews, as well as professors 
of apocryphal forms of the Gospel, were called heretics. 3 But 
in the New Testament our attention is directed chiefly to 
errorists who in some way disturbed the Church, and adulter- 
ated the doctrine taught by our Lord and His apostles. Paul 
refers to such characters when he says, "A man that is an her- 
etic, after the first and second admonition, reject "; 4 and Peter 
also alludes to them when he speaks of false teachers who 
were to appear and " privily bring in damnable heresies." 5 

The earliest corrupters of the Gospel were unquestionably 
those who endeavored to impose the observance of the Mosaic 
law on the converted Gentiles. Their proceedings were con- 
demned in the Council of Jerusalem, mentioned in the fifteenth 
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles ; and Paul, in his letter to 
the Galatians, subsequently exposed their infatuation. But 
evangelical truth had more to fear from dilution with the 
speculations of the Jewish and pagan literati. 6 The apostle 

1 Eph. iv. 17, 18; Col. i. 13. 5 John iii. 18, 19. 

3 Mosheim has overlooked this fact, and has, in consequence, been be- 
trayed into some false criticism when treating on this subject. 

4 Titus iii. 10. B 2 Pet. ii. 1. 

6 Every one acquainted with the works of Philo Judseus is aware that 
Jewish literature was now largely impregnated with pagan philosophy. 



180 GNOSTICISM. 

had this evil in view when he said to the Colossians, " Beware, 
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, 
after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, 
and not after Christ." x He likewise emphatically attested 
the danger to be apprehended from it when he addressed to 
his own son in the faith the impassioned admonition, " O Tim- 
othy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding pro- 
fane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so 
called." 2 

There is no reason to doubt that the " science " or "phi- 
losophy " of which Paul was so anxious that the disciples 
should beware, was the same which was afterward so well 
known by the designation of Gnosticism. The second century 
was the period of its most vigorous development ; and it then, 
f or a time, almost engrossed the attention of the Church ; but 
it was already beginning to exert a pernicious influence, and 
it is therefore noticed by the vigilant apostle. Whilst it ac- 
knowledged, to a certain extent, the authority of the Christian 
revelation, it also borrowed largely from Platonism ; and, in a 
spirit of accommodation to the system of the Athenian sage, 
it rejected some of the leading doctrines of the Gospel. Plato 
never entertained the sublime conception of the creation of 
all things out of nothing by the word of the Most High. He 
held that matter is essentially evil, and thaj it is contaminat- 
ing. 3 The false teachers who disturbed the Church in the 
apostolic age adopted both these views ; and the errors which 
they propagated, and of which the New Testament takes no- 
tice, flowed from their unsound philosophy by direct and 
necessary consequence. As a right understanding of certain 
passages of Scripture depends on an acquaintance with their 
system, it will here be expedient to advert somewhat more 
particularly to a few of its peculiar features. 

The Gnostics alleged that the present world owes neither 
its origin nor its arrangement to the Supreme God. They 
maintained that its constituent parts have been always in ex- 

1 Col. ii. 8. 2 i Tim. vi. 20. 

3 See Burton's " Inquiry into the Heresies of the Apostolic Age," pp. 314, 
315. Also Mosheim's " Dissertation " appended to Cudworth, iii. 171. 



GNOSTICISM. l8l 

istence ; and that, as the great Father of Lights would have 
been contaminated by contact with corrupt matter, the visible 
frame of things was fashioned, without His knowledge, by an 
inferior Intelligence. These principles derogated from the 
glory of Jehovah. By ascribing to matter an independent and 
eternal existence they impugned the doctrine of God's Omnip- 
otent Sovereignty ; and by representing it as regulated with- 
out His sanction by a spiritual agent of a lower rank, they 
denied His Universal Providence. The apostle, therefore, 
felt it necessary to enter his protest against all such cosmogo- 
nies. He declared that Jehovah alone, as Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost, existed from eternity ; and that all things spirit- 
ual and material arose out of nothing in obedience to the 
word of the second person of the Godhead. " By him," says 
he, " were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in 
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or domin- 
ions or principalities or powers ; all things were created by 
him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him 
all things consist." • 

The philosophical system of the Gnostics also led them to 
adopt false views respecting the body of Christ. As, accord- 
ing to their theory, the Messiah came to deliver men from 
the bondage of evil matter, they could not consistently ac- 
knowledge that He himself inhabited an earthly tabernacle. 
They refused to admit that our Lord was born of a human 
parent ; and, as they asserted that He had a body only in ap- 
pearance, or that His visible form as man was in reality a 
phantom, they were at length known by the title of Docetae. 
The Apostle John repeatedly attests the folly and the dan- 
ger of such speculations. " The Word," says he, " was made 
flesh and dwelt among us. 3 .... Every spirit that confesseth 
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. 4 .... 
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, 
which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, 
and our hands have handled of the Word of Life, .... de- 
clare we unto you. 5 .... Many deceivers are entered into 

1 Col. i. 1 6, 17. 2 From donso, I appear. 

3 John i. 14. * 1 John iv. 3. 5 1 John i. 1-3. 



1 82 DENIAL OF THE RESURRECTION. 

the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the 
flesh." l 

Reasoning from the principle that evil is inherent in matter, 
the Gnostics believed the union of the soul and the body to be 
a calamity. According to their views the spiritual being can 
never attain the perfection of which he is susceptible so long 
as he remains connected with his present corporeal organiza- 
tion. Hence they rejected the doctrine of the resurrection of 
the body. When Paul asks the Corinthians, " How say some 
among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?" 3 he 
alludes to the Gnostic denial of this article of the Christian 
theology. He also refers to the same circumstance when he 
denounces the " profane and vain babblings " of those who 
" concerning the truth " had erred, " saying that the resurrec- 
tion is past already." 8 These heretics maintained that an in- 
troduction to their Gnosis, or knowledge, was the only genuine 
deliverance from the dominion of death ; and argued accord- 
ingly that, in the case of those who had been initiated into the 
mysteries of their system, the resurrection was " past already." 

The ancient Christian writers concur in stating that Simon, 
mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, 4 and commonly called 
Simon Magus, was the father of the sects of the Gnostics. 5 He 
was a Samaritan by birth, and after the rebuke he received 
from Peter, 8 he is reported to have withdrawn from the Church 
and to have concocted a theology of his own, into which he 
imported some elements borrowed from Christianity. At a 
subsequent period he travelled to Rome, where he attracted 
attention by the novelty of his creed and the boldness of his 
pretensions. Prior to his baptism by Philip, he "had used 
sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that 
himself was some great one "; 7 and subsequently he pursued 
a similar career. According to a very early authority, nearly 
all the inhabitants of his native country, and a few persons in 
other districts, worshipped him as the first or supreme God.* 

1 2 John 7. 2 1 Cor. xv. 12. 3 2 Tim. ii. 16-18. 

*Acts viii. 9. 5 Irenaeus, i. 23; Eusebius, ii. 13. 
6 Acts viii. 20-23. 7 Acts v "'- 9- 

8 Justin Martyr, " Apol." ii. 69. Edit. Paris, 161 5. 



TENDENCY OF GNOSTICISM. 1 83 

There is, probably, some exaggeration in this statement ; but 
there is no reason to doubt that he laid claim to extraordinary- 
powers, maintaining that the same spirit which had been im- 
parted to Jesus, had descended on himself. He denied that 
our Lord had a real body. Some, who did not enroll them- 
selves under his standard, soon partially adopted his principles ; 
and Hymenaeus, Philetus, Alexander, Phygellus, and Hermog- 
enes, mentioned in the New Testament, 1 were all more or 
less tinctured with the spirit of Gnosticism. Other heresiarchs, 
not named in the sacred record, are known to have flourished 
toward the close of the first century. Of these the most 
famous were Carpocrates, Cerinthus, and Ebion. 9 It is stated 
that John's testimony to the dignity of the Word, in the be- 
ginning of his Gospel, was designed as an antidote to the 
errors of Cerinthus. 3 

When the Gospel exerts its proper influence on the charac- 
ter it produces an enlightened, genial, and consistent piety; 
but a false faith is apt to lead, in practice, to one of two ex- 
tremes, either the asceticism of the Essene, or the sensualism 
of the Sadducee. Gnosticism developed itself in both these 
directions. Some of its advocates maintained that, as matter 
is essentially evil, the corrupt propensities of the body should 
be kept in constant subjection by a life of rigorous mortifica- 
tion ; others held that, as the principle of evil is inherent in 
the corporeal frame, the malady is beyond the reach of cure, 
and that, therefore, the animal nature should be permitted 
freely to indulge its peculiar appetites. To the latter party, 
as some think, belonged the Nicolaitanes noticed by John in 
the Apocalypse. 4 They are said to have derived their name 
from Nicolas, one of the seven deacons ordained by the apos- 

1 1 Tim. i. 20; 2 Tim. i. 15, ii. 17, iv. 14. 

2 Irenasus, i. 25, 26; Tertullian, " De Prasscrip. Haeret." 33; Epiphanius, 
" Haer." xxx. 2, lxix. 23. 

3 Irenasus, iii. 11. The story that John, on meeting Cerinthus in a bath at 
Ephesus, fled out of the place lest the building should fall on him, is a legend 
unworthy the character of the "Son of Thunder." Cerinthus was one of 
the earliest millenarians. See Euseb. iii. 28. 

4 Rev. ii. 6, 15. 



1 84 CONDEMNATION OF GNOSTICISM. 

ties ; 1 and to have been a class of Gnostics noted for their 
licentiousness. The origin of the designation may admit of 
some dispute ; but those to whom it was applied were alike 
lax in principle and dissolute in practice, for the Spirit of God 
has declared His abhorrence as well of the " doctrine" as of 
"the deeds of the Nicolaitanes." 2 

Though the Jews, in the time of our Lord, were so much 
divided in sentiment, and though the Pharisees, the Saddu- 
cees, and the Essenes had each their theological peculiarities, 
their sectarianism did not involve any complete severance or 
separation. Notwithstanding their differences of creed, the 
Pharisees and Sadducees sat together in the Sanhedrim, 9 and 
worshipped together in the temple. All the seed of Abraham 
constituted one Church, and congregated in the same sacred 
courts to celebrate the great festivals. In the Christian Church, 
in the days of the apostles, there was something approaching 
to the same outward unity. Though, for instance, there were 
so many parties among the Corinthians — though one said, I 
am of Paul, and another I am of Apollos, and another I am of 
Cephas, and another I am of Christ — all assembled in the same 
place to join in the same worship, and to partake of the same 
Eucharist. Those who withdrew from the disciples with whom 
they had been previously associated, generally relinquished 
altogether the profession of Christianity. 4 Some, at least, of 
the Gnostics acted very differently. When danger appeared 
they were inclined to temporize, and to discontinue their at- 
tendance on the worship of the Church ; but they were desir- 
ous to remain still nominally connected with the great body of 
believers. 5 Any form of alliance with such errorists was, however, 
considered a cause of scandal ; and the inspired teachers of the 
Gospel insisted on their exclusion from ecclesiastical fellow- 

1 Acts vi. 5. Others conceive, however, that the name Nicolaitanes is 
equivalent to Balaamites (as Balaam in Hebrew is nearly equivalent to Nicolas 
in Greek, each word signifying Ruler, or Conqueror of the people), and that 
the apostle does not here refer to any party already known by this designa- 
tion, but to all who, like Balaam, were seducers of God's people. See Ne- 
ander, "General History," ii. 159. Edinburgh edition, 1847. 

2 Rev. ii. 6, 15. . 3 Acts xxiii. 1, 6. 

* 1 John ii. 19. 5 Compare Jude 19, and Heb. x. 25. 



THE GOSPEL THE PUREST WISDOM. 1 85 

ship. Hence Paul declares that he had delivered Hymenseus 
and Alexander " unto Satan," that they might learn " not to 
blaspheme "; J and John upbraids the Church in Pergamos be- 
cause it retained in its communion " them that held the doc- 
trine of the Nicolaitanes." 2 During the first century the 
Gnostics seem to have been unable to create anything like a 
schism among those who had embraced Christianity. Whilst 
the apostles lived, the " science, falsely so called," could not 
pretend to a divine sanction ; and though here and there they 
displayed considerable activity in the dissemination of their 
principles, they were sternly and effectually discountenanced. 
It is accordingly stated by one of the earliest ecclesiastical 
writers that, in the time of Simeon of Jerusalem, who finished 
his career in the beginning of the second century, " they called 
the Church as yet a virgin, inasmuch as it was not yet corrupted 
by vain discourses." 3 Other writers concur in bearing testi- 
mony to the fact that, whilst the apostles were on earth, false 
teachers failed " to divide the unity " of the Christian common- 
wealth, " by the introduction of corrupt doctrines." 4 

The Gospel affords scope for the healthful and vigorous 
exercise of the human understanding, and it is itself the high- 
est and purest wisdom. It likewise supplies a test for ascer- 
taining the state of the heart. Those who receive it with faith 
unfeigned will delight to meditate on its wonderful discover- 
ies ; but those who are unrenewed in the spirit of their minds 
will render to it only a doubtful submission, and will pervert its 
plainest announcements. The apostle therefore says, "There 
must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved 
may be made manifest among you." 5 The heretic is made 
manifest alike by his deviations from the doctrines and the 
precepts of revelation. His creed does not exhibit the con- 

1 1 Tim. i. 20. 2 Rev. ii. 15. . 

3 Hegesippus in Euseb. iv. 22. 4 Eusebius, iv. 22. 

8 1 Cor. xi. 19. Augustine, after quoting this text, adds: "There are 
many things pertaining to the catholic faith which, that we may defend 
against the heretics who are restlessly and furiously discussing them, are at 
once studied more diligently, understood more clearly, and preached more 
zealously." — City of God, xvi. 2. 



86 



THE GOSPEL THE PUREST WISDOM. 



sistency of truth, and his life fails to display the beauty of 
holiness. Bible Christianity is neither superstitious nor scepti- 
cal, neither austere nor sensual. " The wisdom that is from 
above is, first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be en- 
treated, full of mercy a?id good fruits without partiality and 
without hypocrisy." ' 

'James iii. 17. 



SECTION III. 



THE WORSHIP AND CONSTITUTION OF THE APOSTOLIC 

CHURCH. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE LORD'S DAY— THE WORSHIP OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH 
— ITS SYMBOLIC ORDINANCES AND ITS DISCIPLINE. 

TO the primitive disciples the day on which our Lord rose 
from the grave was a crisis of intense excitement. The cru- 
cifixion had cast a dismal cloud over their prospects ; for, im- 
mediately before, when Jesus entered Jerusalem amidst the 
hosannas of the multitude, they probably anticipated the es- 
tablishment of His sovereignty as the Messiah : yet, when 
His body was committed to the tomb, they did not at once 
sink into despair ; and, though filled with anxiety, they vent- 
ured to indulge a hope that the third day after His demise 
would be signalized by some new revelation. 1 The report of 
those who were early at the sepulchre at first inspired the res- 
idue of the disciples with wonder and perplexity ; 2 but, as the 
proofs of His resurrection multiplied, they became confident 
and joyful. Ever afterward the first day of the week was 
observed by them as the season of holy convocation. 8 Those 
members of the Apostolic Church who had been originally 
Jews, continued for some time to meet together also on the 
Saturday ; but what was called " The Lord's Day," * was re- 
garded by all as sacred to Christ. 

1 Luke xxiv. 21. 2 Luke xxiv. 17, 22, 23. 3 Acts xx. 7. 

4 Rev. i. io, fi KvpLanT} ?}/j,epa. The day was ever afterward distinguished 
by this designation. See a letter from Dionysius of Corinth in Eusebius, 

(187) 



1 88 THE SABBATH. 

' It has often been asserted that, during His own ministry, 
our Saviour encouraged His disciples to violate the Sabbath, 
and thus prepared the way for its abolition. But this theory 
is as destitute of foundation as it is dangerous to morality. 
Even the ceremonial law continued binding till Jesus expired 
upon the cross ; and He felt it to be His duty to attend to every 
jot and tittle of its appointments. 1 Thus it became Him " to 
fulfil all righteousness." 3 He is at pains to show that the acts 
of which the Pharisees complained as breaches of the Sab- 
bath could be vindicated by Old Testament authority; 3 and 
that these formalists " condemned the guiltless" 4 when they 
denounced the disciples as doing that which was unlawful. 
Jesus never transgressed either the letter or the spirit of any 
commandment pertaining to the holy rest ; but superstition 
had added to the written law a multitude of minute observ- 
ances ; and every Israelite was at perfect liberty to neglect 
any or all of these frivolous regulations. 

The Great Teacher never intimated that the Sabbath was a 
ceremonial ordinance to cease with the Mosaic ritual. It was 
instituted when our first parents were in Paradise ; 5 and the 
precept enjoining its remembrance, being a portion of the 
Decalogue, is of perpetual obligation. Hence, instead of re- 
garding it as a merely Jewish institution, Christ declares that 
it " was made for MAX," 7 or, in other words, that it was de- 
signed for the benefit of the whole human family. Instead of 
anticipating its extinction along with the ceremonial law, He 
speaks of its existence after the downfall of Jerusalem./ When 
He announces the calamities connected with the ruin of the 
holy city, He instructs His followers to pray that the urgency 
of the catastrophe may not deprive them of the comfort of the 
ordinances of the sacred rest. " Pray ye," said he, " that your 

iv. 23. See also Kaye's " Clement of Alexandria," p. 418. The first day of 
the week is called "the Christian Sabbath " in the Ethiopic version of the 
" Apostolical Constitutions." See Piatt's " Didascalia," p. 99. But these 
Constitutions are of comparatively late origin. 

1 Matt. v. 17-19. e Matt. iii. 15. 

3 Matt. xii. 3-5 ; Mark ii. 25, 26. 4 Matt. xii. 7. 

6 Gen. ii. 3. 6 Exod. xx. 1-17. T Mark ii. 27. 



THE LORD'S DAY. 189 

flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath-day '." ' And 
the prophet Isaiah, when describing the ingathering of the 
Gentiles and the glory of the Church in the times of the Gos- 
pel, mentions the keeping of- the Sabbath as characteristic of 
the children of God. " The sons of the stranger," says he, 
" that join themselves to the Lord to serve him, and to love 
the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keep- 
eih the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my cov- 
enant — even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and 
make them joyful in my house of prayer ; their burnt-offer- 
ings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar : 2 
for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all 
people!' 3 

But when Jesus declared that " the Son of Man is Lord also 
of the Sabbath," 4 He unquestionably asserted His right to 
alter the circumstantials of its observance. He accordingly 
abolished its ceremonial worship, gave it a new name, and 
changed the day of its celebration. He signalized the first 
day of the week by then appearing once and again to His dis- 
ciples after His resurrection, 5 and by that Pentecostal outpour- 
ing of the Spirit 6 which marks the commencement of a new 
era in the history of redemption. As the Lord's day was 

1 Matt. xxiv. 20. 2 See Heb. xiii. 10, 15, 16 ; Ps. li. 17, 

3 Isa. lvi. 6, 7. Compare with Isa. ii. 2. 4 Mark ii. 28. 

5 John xx. 19, 26. According to the current style of speaking, "after 
eight days" means the eighth day after. See Matt, xxvii. 63. 

6 Acts ii. 1. That the day of Pentecost was the first day of the week 
appears from Lev. xxiii. it, 15. The same inference may be drawn from 
John xviii. 28, and xix. 31, compared with Lev. xxiii. 5, 6. See also Schaff's 
" History of the Apostolic Church," i. p. 230, note, and the authorities there 
quoted. " The day of Pentecost, on whatever day of the week it fell, was 
a Sabbath, Lev. xxiii. 21. So here, on the very day of the commemoration 
or the promulgation of the old law, we have also the promulgation of the 
new, which we may consider as the virtual repeal of the temporary part of 
the old — as the substitution of the new for the old dispensation — here, on 
this very day, we have the Lord's Day and the Sabbath combined togeth- 
er." " Scripture Account of the Sabbath," by Archdeacon Stopford, p. 
220. London, 1837. 



ICjO THE LORD S DAY. 

consecrated to the Lord's service, 1 the disciples dig! not now 
neglect the assembling of themselves together ; Q and the apos- 
tle commanded them at this holy season to set apart a portion 
of their gains for religious purposes. 3 It was most fitting that 
the first day of the week should be thus distinguished under 
the new economy ; for the deliverance of the Church is a 
more illustrious achievement than the formation of the world ;* 
and as the primeval Sabbath commemorated the rest of the 
Creator, the Christian Sabbath reminds us of the completion 
of the work of the Redeemer. " There remaineth, therefore, 
the keeping of a Sabbath s to the people of God, for he that 
is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own 
works, as God did from his." 6 w 

As many of the converts from Judaism urged the circum- 
cision of their Gentile brethren, they were likewise disposed 
to insist on their observance of the Hebrew festivals. The 
apostles, at least for a considerable time, did not deem it ex- 
pedient positively to forbid the keeping of such days ; but 
they required that, in matters of this nature, every one should 
be left to his own discretion. " One man," says Paul, " es- 
teemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every 
day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own 
mind." 7 The Lord's day is not included in this compromise; 
for from the morning of the resurrection there was no dispute 
as to its claims, and its very title attests the general recogni- 
tion of its authority. The apostle can refer only to days 
which were typical and ceremonial. Hence he says elsewhere, 
" Let no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect 

1 In the same way the Eucharist is called the Lord's Supper : KvpiaKov 
SeliTvov (i Cor. xi. 20). Thus also we speak of the Lord's house and the 
Lord's people. 

2 Heb. x. 25. 3 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2. * Isa. lxv. 17, 18. 

5 ZappaTicfiog. See Owen " On the Hebrews," iv. 9. 

6 Heb. iv. 9, 10. " As that rest, which all the world was to observe, was 
founded in the works and rest of Him who built or made the world, and all 
things in it ; so the rest of the Church of the Gospel is to be founded in the 
works and rest of Him by whom the Church itself was built, that is, Jesus 
Christ." — Owen. 

7 Rom. xiv. 5. 



I 



WORSHIP OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 191 

of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days — 
which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ." l 

Though the New Testament furnishes no full and circum- 
stantial description of the worship of the Christian Church, it 
makes such incidental allusions to its various parts as enable 
us to form a pretty accurate idea of its general character. 
Like the worship of the synagogue, 2 it consisted of prayer, 
praise, reading the Scriptures, and expounding or preaching. 
Those who joined the Church, for several years after it was 
first organized, were almost exclusively converts from Juda- 
ism, and when they embraced the Christian faith, they retained 
the order of religious service to which they had been hitherto 
accustomed ; but by the recognition of Jesus Christ as the 
Messiah of whom the law and the prophets testified, their old 
forms were inspired with new life and significance. At first 
the heathen did not challenge the distinction between the 
worship of the synagogue and the Church ; and thus it was, 
as has already been intimated, that for a considerable portion 
of the first century, the Christians and the Jews were frequently 
confounded. 

It has often been asserted that the Jews had a liturgy when 
our Lord ministered in their synagogues ; but the proof ad- 
duced in support of this statement is far from satisfactory; 
and their prayers, which are still extant, and which are said to 
have been then in use, must obviously have been written after 
the destruction of Jerusalem. 3 It is, however, certain that the 

1 Col. ii. 16, 17. 

2 The ordinary temple service was peculiar. It was, to a great extent, 
ceremonial and typical, consisting largely of sacrificing, burning incense,, 
and offering various oblations. The worshippers often prayed apart. See 
Luke i. 10, xviii. 10, 11. But all the ordinances of the temple — such as the 
reading of the law — were not ceremonial. 

3 See these eighteen prayers in Prideaux's " Connexions," i. 375, and note. 
Bingham admits (Orig. iv. 194) that these words were their " most ancient" 
forms of devotion ; and, of course, if they were written after the fall of Jeru- 
salem, it follows that the Jews had no liturgy in the days of our Lord. Had 
they then been limited to fixed forms, He would scarcely have upbraided 
the Scribes and Pharisees for hypocritically " making long prayer." Matt, 
xxiii. 14. 



192 PRAYER. 

Christians in the apostolic age were not restricted to any par- 
ticular forms of devotion. The liturgies ascribed to Mark, 
James, and others, are unquestionably the fabrications of later 
times ;' and had any of the inspired teachers of the Gospel 
composed a book of common prayer, it would have been re- 
ceived into the canon of the New Testament. Our Lord 
taught His disciples to pray, and supplied them with a model 
to guide them in their devotional exercises; 2 but there is no 
evidence whatever that, in their stated services, they constantly 
employed the language of that beautiful and comprehensive 
formulary. The very idea of a liturgy was altogether alien to 
the spirit of the primitive believers. They were commanded 
to give thanks "in everything," 3 to pray "always with all 
prayer and supplication in the spirit," 4 and to watch thereunto 
"with all perseverance and supplication for all saints";" and 
had they been limited to a form, they would have found it 
impossible to comply with these admonitions. Their prayers 
were dictated by the occasion, and varied according to pass- 
ing circumstances. Some of them which have been recorded, 8 
had a special reference to the occurrences of the day, and 
could not have well admitted of repetition. In the apostolic 
age, when the Spirit was poured out in such rich effusion on the 
Church, the gift, as well as the grace, of prayer was imparted 
abundantly, so that a liturgy would have been superfluous, if 
not directly calculated to freeze the genial current of devo- 
tion. 

Singing, in which — as some contend — none but Levites 
were permitted to unite, 7 and which was accompanied by in- 
strumental music, constituted, at least from the days of David, 
a part of the ritual of Jewish worship. The singers occupied 
an elevated platform adjoining the court of the priests; 8 and 
the sounds of cymbals, psalteries, and harps, mingled with 

1 See Palmer's " Origines Liturgicae," i. pp. 44-92 ; and Clarkson's "Dis- 
course concerning Liturgies "; " Select Works," p. 342. 

a Matt. vi. 9-13. 3 1 Thess. v. 18. * Eph. vi. 18. 

6 Eph. vi. 18. 6 Acts i. 24, 25, iv. 24-30. 

7 See Lightfoot's "Temple Service," ch. vii., sec. 1, "Works," ix. 56. 

8 Lightfoot's "Prospect of the Temple," ch. xxxiiii., "Works," ix. 384. 



THE SCRIPTURES AND THE GIFT OF TONGUES. I93 

their well-trained voices, must have exercised a thrilling influ- 
ence. 1 But the early Christians — constantly depressed by per- 
secution, and often obliged to hold their religious assemblies 
in some secluded spot at dead of night — could not think of at- 
tempting to emulate such a magnificent service of praise. 
These were the days of darkness, predicted by the Great 
Bridegroom, 2 when they were to fast and mourn, and when 
they could make no provision for the embellishments of artis- 
tic melody. It is not, therefore, strange that instrumental 
music was not heard in their congregational services. 

The Jews divided the Pentateuch and the writings of the 
Prophets into sections, one of which was read every Sabbath 
in the synagogue ; 3 and thus, in the place set apart to the serv- 
ice of the God of Israel, His own will was constantly pro- 
claimed. The Christians bestowed equal honor on the holy 
oracles ; for in their solemn assemblies, the reading of the 
Scriptures of the Old and New Testament formed part of their 
stated worship. 4 At the close of this exercise, one or more of 
the elders edified the congregation, either by giving a general 
exposition of the passage read, or by insisting particularly on 
some point of doctrine or duty which it obviously inculcated. 
If a prophet was present, he, too, had an opportunity of ad- 
dressing the auditory. 5 

As apostolic Christianity aimed to impart light to the un- 
derstanding, its worship was uniformly conducted in the lan- 
guage of the people. It, indeed, attested its divine origin by 
miracles, and it accordingly enabled some to speak in tongues 
in which they had never been instructed ; but it permitted 
such individuals to exercise their gifts in the church, only when 
interpreters were present to translate their communications. 6 

1 The Rabbins report that the sound of the temple service could be heard 
at Jericho ; but this is obviously an absurd exaggeration. 

2 Mark ii. 20. 5 Luke iv. 16, 17. 4 Col. iv. 16 ; 1 Thess. v. 27. 

6 1 Cor. xiv. 29. Only two or three persons were permitted to speak at a 
meeting. By him that"sitteth by" (verse 30), a doctor or teacher is 
meant. See Vitringa, " De Synagoga," p. 6oo, and Matt. v. 1. 

8 i Cor. xiv. 27. The gift of " interpretation of tongues " (1 Cor. xii. 10) 
was quite as wonderful as the gift of " divers kinds of tongues " (1 Cor. 
xii. 10). 

13 



194 INFANT BAPTISM. 

Whilst the gift of tongues, possessed by so many of the 
primitive disciples, attracted the attention of the Gentile 
as well as of the Jewish literati, it also made a powerful 
impression on the popular mind, especially in large cities ; for 
in such places there were always foreigners to whom these 
strange utterances were perfectly intelligible, and for whom 
a discourse delivered in the speech of their native country had 
peculiar charms. Bat in the worship of the primitive Chris- 
tians, the arrangements were of the most simple character. In 
their depressed condition, they often conducted their services 
under circumstances of extreme discomfort. For the whole 
of the first century they celebrated their religious ordinances 
in private houses, 1 and their ministers officiated in their ordi- 
nary costume. John, the forerunner of our Saviour, " had his 
raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins "; a 
but perhaps few of the early Christian preachers were arrayed 
in such coarse canonicals. 

The Founder of the Christian religion instituted only two 
symbolic ordinances — Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 3 It is 
universally admitted that, in the apostolic age, baptism was 
dispensed to all who embraced the Gospel ; but it has been 
much disputed whether it was also administered to the infant 
children of the converts. The testimony of Scripture on the 
subject is not very explicit, for, as the ordinance was in com- 
mon use among the Jews, 4 a minute description of its mode 
and subjects was deemed unnecessary by the apostles and 
evangelists. When an adult heathen was received into the 
Church of Israel, it is well known that the little children of 

1 i Cor. xvi. 19; Col. iv. 15 ; Philem. 2. 2 Matt. iii. 4. 

3 The rite of confirmation, as now practiced, has no sanction in the New 
Testament. The " baptisms " and " laying on of hands," mentioned Heb. 
vi. 2, are obviously the " divers washings" of the Jews, and the imposition of 
hands on the heads of victims. The laying on of the apostles' hands con- 
ferred miraculous gifts. Had the apostle referred to Christian baptism in 
Heb. vi. 2, he would have used the singular number. 

4 Lightfoot affirms that the use of baptism among the Israelites was as 
ancient as the days of Jacob. He appeals in support of this view to Gen. 
xxxv. 2. " Works," iv. 278. 



INFANT BAPTISM. 



195 



the proselyte were admitted along with him ; 1 and as the 
Christian Scriptures nowhere forbid the dispensation of the 
rite to infants, it may be presumed that the same practice was 
observed by the primitive ministers of the Gospel. This in- 
ference is emphatically corroborated by the fact that, of the 
comparatively small number of passages in the New Testa- 
ment which treat of its administration, no less than five refer 
to the baptism of whole households. 2 These five cases are not 
mentioned as rare or peculiar, but as ordinary specimens of 
the method of apostolic procedure. It is not, indeed, abso- 
lutely certain that there was an infant in any of these five 
households ; but it is, unquestionably, much more probable 
that they contained a fair proportion of little children, than 
that every individual in each of them had arrived at years of 
maturity, and that all these adults, without exception, at once 
participated in the faith of the head of the family, and became 
candidates for baptism. 

In the New Testament faith is represented as the grand 
qualification for baptism ; 3 but this principle obviously applies 
only to all who are capable of believing; for, in the Word of 
God, faith is also represented as necessary to salvation, 4 and 
yet it is generally conceded that little children may be saved. 
Under the Jewish dispensation infants were circumcised, and 
were thus recognized as interested in the divine favor, so that, 
if they be excluded from the rite of baptism, it follows that 
they occupy a worse position under a milder and more glorious 
economy. But the New Testament forbids us to adopt such 
an inference. It declares that infants should be " suffered to 
come " to the Saviour ; b it indicates that baptism supplies the 
place of circumcision, for it connects the Gospel institution 

1 Lightfoot's "Works," iv. 409, 410. Edit. London, 1822. 

2 Acts x. 2, 44-48, xvi. 15, 33, xviii. 8 ; 1 Cor. i. 16. 

3 Acts viii. 37. 4 Mark xvi. 16; John iii. 18. 

5 Matt. xix. 14; Luke xviii. 15. In the New Testament children are de- 
scribed as uniting with their Christian parents in prayer (Acts xxi. 5). 
Were not these children baptized? They were, no doubt, brought up "in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord " (Eph. vi. 4). 



I96 MODE OF BAPTISM. 

with " the circumcision of Christ "; ' it speaks of children as 
*' saints," and as " in the Lord," * and, therefore, as having re- 
ceived some visible token of Church membership ; and it as- 
sures them that their sins are forgiven them " for His name's 
sake." 3 The New Testament does not record a single case in 
which the offspring of Christian parents were admitted to bap- 
tism on arriving at years of intelligence ; but it tells of the 
apostles exhorting the men of Judea to repent and to submit 
to the ordinance, inasmuch as it was a privilege proffered to 
them and to their children* Nay, more, Paul plainly teaches 
that the seed of the righteous are entitled to the recognition 
of saintship, and that, even when only one of the parents is a 
Christian, the offspring do not on that account forfeit their ec- 
clesiastical inheritance. " The unbelieving husband," says he, 
" is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sancti- 
fied by the husband, else were your children unclean, but now 
are they holy." 5 This passage demonstrates that the Apostolic 
Church recognized the holiness of infants, or, in other words, 
that it admitted them to baptism. 

The Scriptures furnish no very specific instructions as to the 
mode of baptism, and, in its administration, the primitive 
heralds of the Gospel did not adhere to a system of rigid uni- 
formity. 6 Some have asserted that the Greek word translated 
baptize? in our authorized version, always signifies immerse, 
but it has been clearly shown 9 that this statement is inaccu- 

1 Col. ii. ii, 12, 13. a Col. i. 2, iii. 20; Eph. vi. 1, 4. 

5 1 John ii. 12. 4 Acts ii. 38, 39. 

6 1 Cor. vii. 14. The absurdity of the interpretation according to which 
holy is here made to signify legitimate, is well exposed by Dr. Wilson in 
his treatise on " Infant Baptism," p. 513. London, 1848. Such passages 
as Levit. xxi. 7-9, and xxii. 11, 12, illustrate the meaning of the words 
quoted in the text. 

6 This would, indeed, have been almost, if not altogether, impossible. 
They would act differently at the river Jordan and in such a place as 
the jail at Philippi. 7 BanT'ifa. 

e Dr. Wilson has demonstrated the incorrectness of Dr. Carson's state- 
ments on this subject. See his " Infant Baptism," p. 96. If, as some think, 
when the apostle speaks of those " baptized for the dead " (1 Cor. xv. 29), 
he refers to those defiled by coming in contact with a dead body or a grave 
(see Numbers xix.), and sprinkled, in order to purification, with the ashes 
of the red heifer, he makes sprinkling to be a form of baptism. 



THE LORD S SUPPER. igj 

rate, and that baptism does not necessarily imply dipping. In 
ancient times, and in the lands where the apostles labored, 
bathing was as frequently performed by affusion as immersion, 1 
and the apostles varied their method of baptizing according to 
circumstances." The ordinance was intended to convey the 
idea of washing or purifying, and it is obvious that water may 
be applied, in many ways, as the means of ablution. In the 
sacred volume sprinkling is often spoken of as equivalent to 
washing? 

As baptism was designed to supersede the Jewish circum- 
cision, the Lord's Supper was intended to occupy the place of 
the Jewish Passover. 4 The Paschal lamb could be sacrificed 
nowhere except in the temple of Jerusalem, and the Passover 
was kept only once a year ; but the Eucharist could be dis- 
pensed wherever a Christian congregation was collected ; and at 
this period it seems to have been often observed on the first 
day of the week, at least by the more zealous and devout wor- 
shippers. 5 The wine, as well as the other element, was given 
to all who joined in its celebration ; and the title of the " Break- 
ing of Bread" 6 one of the names by which the ordinance was 
originally distinguished, supplies evidence that the doctrine of 
transubstantiation was utterly unknown. The word Sacra- 
ment, as applied to Baptism and the Holy Supper, was not in 
use in the days of the apostles, and the subsequent introduc- 

1 Wilson's "Infant Baptism," p. 157. In Titus iii. 5, 6, there is some- 
thing like a reference to this mode of baptism : " The washing of regenera- 
tion and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed (or poured out) on us 
abundantly." 05 k^exeev e<j>' r^iaq nlovoiuQ. Many of the ancient baths were 
adapted only for affusion. The " Baptisterium is not a bath sufficiently 
large to immerse the whole body, but a vessel or labrum containing cold 
water for pouring on the head."— Smith 's Dictionary of Greek and Roman 
Antiquities. Art. Baths. The name of this vessel demonstrates that, in 
ancient times, baptizing did not necessarily imply dipping or immersion. 
See, also, Muir's "Life of Mahomet," iv. 261. 

2 In some cases, as at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, they had not 
the means of immersing their converts. See also Acts x. 47. The text, 
John iii. 23, indicates the difficulty of baptizing by dipping. 

3 Isa. Hi. 15 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 25 ; 1 Pet. i. 2 ; Heb. ix. 10, 21, 22 ; Rev. i. 5. 
* 1 Cor. v. 7, 8. B Acts xx. 7. 6 Acts xx. 7 ; 1 Cor. x. 16. 



198 THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

tion of a new nomenclature, 1 contributed to throw an air of 
mystery around these institutions. The primitive disciples 
considered the elements employed in them simply as signs and 
seals of spiritual blessings ; and they had no more idea of re- 
garding the bread in the Eucharist as the real body of our 
Saviour, than they had of believing that the water of baptism 
is the very blood in which He washed His people from their 
sins. They knew that they enjoyed the light of His counte- 
nance in prayer, in meditation, and in the hearing of His 
Word, and that He was only spiritually present in these sym- 
bolic ordinances. 

Whilst, in the Lord's Supper, believers hold fellowship with 
Christ, they also maintain and exhibit their communion with 
each other. " We, being many," says Paul, " are one bread 
and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread." a 
Those who joined together in the observance of this holy in- 
stitution were thereby pledged to mutual love ; but every one 
who acted in such a way as to bring reproach upon the Chris- 
tian name, was no longer admitted to the sacred table. Paul 
refers to exclusion from this ordinance, as well as from inti- 
mate civil intercourse, when he says to the Corinthians, " I 
have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that 
is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, 
or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner ; with such an one 
no not to eat." 3 

In the synagogue all cases of discipline were decided by the 
bench of elders ; 4 and it is plain, from the New Testament, 
that those who occupied a corresponding position in the 
Christian Church, exercised similar authority. They are de- 
scribed as having the oversight of the flock, 6 as bearing rule, 6 
as watching for souls, T and as taking care of the Church of 

1 It was in use before the end of the second century. See Kaye's " Ter- 
tullian," pp. 431,451. 

e 1 Cor. x. 17. 3 1 Cor. v. 11. 

4 See Lightfoot's "Works," iii. 242, and xi. 179. Vitringa, " De Syna- 
goga," p. 550. 

6 Acts xx. 28. 8 Heb. xiii. 17. 7 Heb. xiii. 17. 






CHURCH DISCIPLINE. I99 

God. 1 They are instructed how to deal with offenders, 8 and 
they are said to be entitled to obedience. 3 Such representa- 
tions imply that they were intrusted- with the administration 
of ecclesiastical discipline. 

This account of the functions of the spiritual rulers has by 
some been considered inconsistent with several statements in 
the apostolic epistles. It has been alleged that, according to 
these letters, the administration of discipline was vested in 
the whole body of the people ; and that originally the mem- 
bers of the Church, in their collective capacity, exercised the 
right of excommunication. The language of Paul, in reference 
to a case of scandal which occurred among the Christians of 
Corinth, has been often quoted in proof of the democratic 
character of their ecclesiastical constitution. " It is reported 
commonly," says the apostle, " that there is fornication among 
you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among 

the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife 

Therefore/?/^ away from among yourselves that wicked person." * 
The admonition was obeyed, and the application of discipline 
produced a most salutary impression on the mind of the of- 
fender. In his next letter the apostle accordingly alludes to 
this circumstance, and observes : " Sufficient to such a man is 
this punishment, which was inflicted of many." 6 These words 
have been frequently adduced to show that the government 
of the Corinthian Church was administered by the whole body 
of the communicants. 

The various statements of Scripture, if rightly understood, 
exactly harmonize, and a closer investigation of the case of 
this transgressor is all that is required to prove that he was 
not tried and condemned by a tribunal composed of the whole 
mass of the members of the Church of Corinth. His true his- 
tory reveals facts of a very different character. For reasons 
which it would, perhaps, be now in vain to hope fully to ex- 
plore, he was a favorite among his fellow-disciples ; many of 
them, prior to their conversion, had been grossly licentious ; 

1 1 Tim. iii. 5. 2 1 Tim. v. 19, 20. 3 Heb. xiii. 17. 

* 1 Cor. v. 1, 13. B 2 Cor. ii. 6. 



200 CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 

and they continued to regard certain lusts of the flesh with an 
eye of comparative indulgence. 1 Some of them probably con- 
sidered the conduct of this offender as only a legitimate exer- 
cise of his Christian liberty ; and manifested a strong inclina- 
tion to shield him from ecclesiastical censure. Paul, therefore, 
felt it necessary to address them in the language of indignant 
expostulation. " Ye arc puffed up" says he, " and have not 
rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be 

taken away from among you Your glorying is not good. 

Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump ? " * 
At the same time, as an apostle bound to vindicate the repu- 
tation of the Church, and to enforce the rules of ecclesiastical 
discipline, he solemnly announces his determination to have 
the offender excommunicated. " I verily," says he, " as absent 
in body, but present in spirit, have judged already as though I 
were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, in 
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gatliered to- 
gether, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the 
flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord 
Jesus." 3 To deliver any one to Satan is to expel him from 
the Church — for whoever is not in the Church is in the world, 
and " the whole world lieth in the Wicked one." 4 This dis- 
cipline was designed to teach the fornicator to mortify his 
lusts, and it thus aimed at the promotion of his highest inter- 
ests ; or, as the apostle expresses it, he was to be excommuni- 
cated " for the destruction of the flesh, 5 that the spirit might 
be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." 

The Church of Corinth was now in a state of great disorder. 

1 See Period I., section i., chap v., p. 78. 2 1 Cor. v. 2, 6. 

3 I Cor. v. 3-5. 4 I John v. 19, h tu novypti. 

5 In the above passage respecting delivering unto Satan there is, per- 
haps, a reference to Job. ii. 6, 7, and it may be that some bodily affliction 
rested on the offender. In that case there was here an exercise of super- 
natural power on the part of Paul. According to Tertullian, to deliver to 
Satan was simply to excommunicate. " De ceteris dixit qui illis traditis 
Satanae, id est, extra ecclesiam projectis, erudiri haberent blasphemandum 
non esse." — De Pudicitia, c. xiii. 



CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 201 

A partisan spirit had crept in among its members ; 1 and it is 
probable that those elders 2 who were anxious to maintain 
wholesome discipline were opposed and overborne. The for- 
nicator had in some way contrived to make himself so popular 
that an attempt at his expulsion would, it was feared, throw 
the whole society into hopeless confusion. Under these cir- 
cumstances Paul felt it necessary to interpose, to assert his 
apostolic authority, and to insist on the maintenance of eccle- 
siastical order. Instead, however, of consulting the people as 
to the course to be pursued, he peremptorily delivers his judg- 
ment, and requires them to hold a solemn assembly that they 
may listen to the public announcement 3 of a sentence of ex- 
communication. He, of course, expected that their rulers 
would concur with him in this decision, and that one of them 
would officially publish it when they were " gathered together." 
When the case is thus stated, it is easy to understand why 
the apostle required all the disciples to " put away " from 
among themselves " that wicked person." Had they continued 
to cherish the spirit they had recently displayed, they might 
either have encouraged the fornicator to refuse submission to 
the sentence, or have rendered it comparatively powerless. 
He therefore reminds them that they too should seek to pro- 
mote the purity of ecclesiastical fellowship ; and that they 
were bound to co-operate in carrying out a righteous disci- 
pline. They were to cease to recognize this fallen disciple as 
a servant of Christ ; to withdraw themselves from his society ; 
to decline to meet him on the same terms, as heretofore, in 

1 i Cor. i. ii, 12. 

2 That the Church of Corinth at this time was organized in the same way 
as other Christian communities is evident from various allusions in the first 
epistle. See i Cor. iv. 1 5, vi. 5, xii. 27, 28. Crispus, mentioned Acts xviii. 
8, was, no doubt, one of the eldership. There is a reference to the elders 
in 1 Cor. xiv. 30. See Vitringa, " De Synagoga," p. 600. 

3 In the apostolic age, censures were pronounced in presence of the whole 
church. See 1 Tim. v. 20. It is to be noted that Paul himself does not 
excommunicate the offender. He merely delivers his apostolic judgment 
that the thing should be done, and calls upon the Corinthians to do it ; but 
he expects them to proceed in due order, the rulers and the people perform- 
ing their respective parts. 



202 CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 

social intercourse ; and not even to eat in his company. Thus 
would the reputation of the Church be vindicated ; for in this 
way it would be immediately known to all who were without 
that he was no longer considered a member of the brotherhood. 

The Corinthians were awakened to a sense of duty by this 
apostolic letter, and acted up to its instructions. The result 
was most satisfactory. When the offender saw that he was 
cut off from the Church, and that its members avoided his so- 
ciety, he was completely humbled. The sentence of the apos- 
tle, or the eldership, if opposed or neglected by the people, 
might have produced little impression ; but " the punishment 
which was inflicted of many " — the immediate and entire 
abandonment of all connection with him by the disciples at 
Corinth— overwhelmed him with shame and terror. He felt 
as a man smitten by the judgment of God ; he renounced his 
sin ; and exhibited the most unequivocal tokens of genuine 
contrition. In due time he was restored to Church fellowship ; 
and the apostle then exhorted his brethren to readmit him to 
intercourse, and to treat him with kindness and confidence. 
"Ye ought," says he, " rather to forgive him and comfort him, 
lest perhaps such an one should be swallowed up with over- 
much sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would con- 
firm your love toward him." ' 

This case of the Corinthian fornicator has been recorded for 
the admonition and guidance of believers in all generations. 
It teaches that every member of a Christian Church is bound 
to use his best endeavors to promote a pure communion ; 
and that he is not guiltless if, prompted by mistaken charity 
or considerations of selfishness, he is not prepared to co-oper- 
ate in the exclusion of false brethren. Many an immoral 
minister has maintained his position, and has thus continued 

1 2 Cor. ii. 7, 8. The mode of proceeding here indicated is illustrated by 
what took place in the Church of Rome about the middle of the third cent- 
ury. There certain penitents first appeared before the presbytery to ex- 
press their contrition, and then it was arranged that " this whole proceeding 
should be communicated to the people, that they might see those established 
in the Church, whom they had so long seen and mourned wandering and 
straying." — Cyprian, Epist. xlvi., p. 136. Edit. Baluzius, Venice, 1728. 



EXCOMMUNICATION. 203 

to bring discredit on the Gospel, simply because those who had 
witnessed his misconduct were induced to suppress their testi- 
mony ; and many a church court has been prevented from 
enforcing discipline by the clamors or intimidation of an ig- 
norant and excited congregation. The command, " Put away 
from among yourselves that wicked person," is addressed to 
the people, as well as to the ministry ; and all Christ's disciples 
should feel that, in vindicating the honor of His name, they 
have a common interest, and share a common responsibility. 
Every one can not be a member of a church court ; but every 
one can aid in the preservation of church discipline. He may 
supply information, or give evidence, or encourage a healthy 
tone of public sentiment, or assist, by petition or remon- 
strance, in quickening the zeal of lukewarm judicatories. 
And discipline is never so influential as when it is known to 
be sustained by the approving verdict of a pious and intelli- 
gent community. The punishment " inflicted of many " — the 
withdrawal of the confidence and countenance of a whole 
church — is a most impressive admonition to a proud sinner. 

In the apostolic age the sentence of excommunication had 
a very different significance from that which was attached to 
it at a subsequent period. Our Lord pointed out its import 
with equal precision and brevity when He said, " If thy 
brother .... neglect to hear the church, 1 let him be unto 
thee as an heathen man and a publican." 2 The Israelites 
could have no religious fellowship with heathens, or the 
worshippers of false gods ; and they could have no personal 
respect for publicans, or Roman tax-gatherers, who were re- 
garded as odious representatives of the oppressors of their 
country. To be " unto them as an heathen " was to be exclu- 
ded from the privileges of their church ; and to be " unto them 
as a publican " was to be shut out from their society in the 
way of domestic intercourse. When the apostle says, " Now 
we command you, brethren, that ye withdraw yourselves from 
every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the ordi- 

1 That " the church " here signifies the eldership, see Vitringa, " De 
Synagoga," p. 724. 
q Matt, xviii. 15, 17. 



204 EXCOMMUNICATION. 

nance 1 which he received of us/' 2 he designed to intimate 
that those who were excommunicated should be admitted 
neither to the intimacy of private friendship nor to the seal- 
ing ordinances of the Gospel. But it did not follow that the 
disciples were to treat such persons with insolence or in- 
humanity. They were not at liberty to act thus toward 
heathens and publicans ; for they were to love even their 
enemies, and to imitate the example of their Father in heaven 
who " maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and 
sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." ' It is obvious 
from the address of the apostle to the Thcssalonians that the 
members of the Church were not forbidden to speak to those 
who were separated from communion ; and that they were not 
required to refuse them the ordinary charities of life. They 
were simply to avoid such an intercourse as implied a com- 
munity of faith, of feeling, and of interest. " If any man," 
says he, " obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, 
and have no company with Jiim, that he may be ashamed. Yet 
count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." * 

How diffeient was this discipline from that established, 
several centuries afterward, in the Latin Church ! The spirit 
and usages of paganism then supplanted the regulations of 
the New Testament, and the excommunication of Christianity 
was converted into the excommunication of Druidism. 6 Our 
Lord taught that " whoever would not hear the church " 
should be treated as a heathen man and a publican ; but the 
time came when he who forfeited his status as a member of 
the Christian commonwealth was denounced as a monster or a 
fiend. Paul declared that the person excommunicated, instead 
of being counted as an enemy, should be admonished as a 
brother ; but the Latin Church, in a long list of horrid impre- 

1 In our English version the original word {irapadoatv) is improperly ren- 
dered tradition. 

2 2 Thess. iii. 6. 3 Matt. v. 45. 

4 2 Thess. iii. 14, 15. 

5 For an account of the excommunication of the Druids, see Caesar, " De 
Bello Gallico," vi. 13. Many things in the Latin excommunication are bor- 
rowed from paganism. 



EXCOMMUNICATION. 205 

cations, 1 invoked a curse upon every member of the body of 
the offender, and commanded every one to refuse to him the 
civility of the coldest salutation ! The early Church acted as 
a faithful monitor, anxious to reclaim the sinner from the error 
of his ways : the Latin Church, like a tyrant, refuses to the 
transgressor even that which is his due, and seeks either to 
reduce him to slavery or to drive him to despair. 

1 As an example of this, see an old form of excommunication in Collier's 
" Ecclesiastical History," ii. 273. Edit. London, 1840. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE EXTRAORDINARY TEACHERS OF THE APOSTOLIC 

CHURCH ; AND ITS ORDINARY OFFICE-BEARERS, 

THEIR APPOINTMENT, AND ORDINATION. 

PAUL declares that Christ "gave some, apostles; and some, 
prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teach- 
ers ; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the min- 
istry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." ' In another 
place the same writer, when speaking of those occupying po- 
sitions of prominence in the ecclesiastical community, makes 
a somewhat similar enumeration. " God," says he, " hath set 
some in the church, first, apostles; secondarily, prophets; 
thirdly, teachers; after that, miracles; then, gifts of healings, 
helps, governments, diversities of tongues." a 

These two passages, presenting something like catalogues 
of the most prominent characters connected with the Apos- 
tolic Church, throw light upon each other. They mention the 
ordinary, as well as the extraordinary, ecclesiastical function- 
aries. Under the class of ordinary office-bearers must be 
placed those described as " pastors and teachers," " helps," and 
" governments." The evangelists, such as Timothy, 3 Titus, 
and Philip, 4 had a special commission to assist in organizing 
the infant Church ; 5 and, as they were furnished with super- 
natural endowments, 6 they were extraordinary functionaries. 

1 Eph. iv. II, 12. 2 i Cor. xii. 28. 3 2 Tim. iv. 5. 

4 Acts xxi. 8, viii. 5. 6 1 Tim. i. 3, v. 1, 7, 17 ; Tit. i. 5. 

6 Acts viii. 13:2 Tim. i. 6. This latter text is often quoted, though er- 
roneously, as if it referred to the ordination of Timothy. The ordainer 
usually laid on only his right hand. See " Con. Carthag." iv. can. Hi. iv. 
In conferring extraordinary endowments both hands were imposed. See 
Acts xix. 6. 

(206) 



CHURCH OFFICERS. 20? 

The apostles themselves clearly belong to the same denomina- 
tion. They all possessed the gift of inspiration ; ' they all 
received their authority immediately from Christ ; 2 they all 
"went in and out with Him " during His personal ministry; 
and, as they all saw Him after He rose from the dead, they 
could all attest His resurrection. 3 It is plain, too, that the 
ministrations of " the prophets," as well as of those who 
wrought " miracles," who possessed " gifts of healings," and 
who had " diversities of tongues," must also be designated 
extraordinary. 

It is probable that by the " helps," of whom Paul here 
speaks, he understands the deacons? who were originally ap- 
pointed to relieve the apostles of a portion of labor which 
they felt to be inconvenient and burdensome. 5 The duties of 
the deacons were not strictly of a spiritual character; these 
ministers held only a subordinate station among the office- 
bearers of the Church ; and, even in dealing with its tempo- 
ralities, they acted under the advice and direction of those 
who were properly intrusted with its government. Hence, 
perhaps, they were called " helps " or attendants. 6 

When these helps and the extraordinary functionaries are 
left out of the apostolic catalogues, in the passage addressed 
to the Ephesian", we have nothing remaining but " PASTORS 
AND teachers"; and, in that to the Corinthians nothing 
but " TEACHERS " AND " GOVERNMENTS." There are good 
grounds for believing that these two residuary elements are 
identical, — the " pastors," mentioned before 7 the teachers in 
one text, being equivalent to the " governments " mentioned 
after them in the other. 8 Nor is it strange that those in- 

1 John xiv. 26, xvi. 13, xx. 22. 2 Matt. x. 1, xxviii. 18, 19. 

3 John xx. 26, xxi. 1 ; Acts i. 3 ; 1 Cor. ix. r. 

4 Such is the opinion of Chrysostom and others. See Alford on this 
passage. 

6 Acts vi. 2-4. 

6 In the Peshito version helps and governments are translated helpers and 
governors. 

7 It is remarkable that the lay council of the modern synagogue are called 
Parnasim or Pastors. See Vitringa, "De Synagoga," pp. 578, 635. 

8 Mr. Alford observes that in 1 Cor. xii. 28, " we must not seek for a 



208 ELDERS OR BISHOPS. 

trusted with the ecclesiastical government should be styled 
pastors or shepherds ; for they are the guardians and rulers of 
"the flock of God." ' Thus the ordinary office-bearers of the 
Apostolic Church were pastors, teachers, and helps ; or, teach- 
ers, rulers, and deacons. 

In the apostolic age we read likewise of elders and bishops ; 
and in the New Testament these names are often used inter- 
changeably. 2 The elders, or bishops, were the same as the 
pastors and teachers ; for they had the charge of the instruc- 
tion and government of the Church. 3 Hence elders are re- 
quired to act as faithful pastors under Christ, the Chief Shep- 
herd. 4 Whilst some of the elders were only pastors, or rulers, 
others were also teachers. The apostle says accordingly, 
" Let the elders that rule well, be counted worthy of double 
honor, especially those that labor in the word and doctrine." b 
We thus see that the teachers, governments, and.helps, men- 
tioned by Paul when writing to the Corinthians, are the same 
as the " bishops and deacons " of whom he speaks elsewhere. 9 

In primitive times there were, generally, a plurality of elders, 
as well as a plurality of deacons, in every church or congrega- 
tion ; 7 and each functionary was expected to apply himself to 
that particular department of his office which he could man- 
age most efficiently. Some elders possessed a peculiar talent 
for expounding the Gospel in the way of preaching, or, as it 

classified arrangement " — the arrangement being " rather suggestive than 
logical." Hence " helps " are mentioned before " governments." In the 
same way in Eph. iv. n, "pastors" precede " teachers." 

1 Acts xx. 28 ; 1 Pet. v. 2. 

2 Acts xxi. 17, 28 ; Titus i. 5, 7 ; 1 Pet. v. 1, 2. 

3 1 Tim. iii. 1,2, 5. 

* 1 Pet. v. 1, 2, 4. The identity of elders and pastors is more distinctly 
exhibited in the original here, and in Acts xx. 17, 28, as the word translated 

feed signifies literally to act as a shepherd or pastor. 

5 1 Tim. v. 17. Mr. Ellicott, in his work on the " Pastoral Epistles," thus 
speaks of this passage, " The concluding words, bv 2.6yu nal dtckovc., certainly 
seem to imply two kinds of ruling presbyters, those who preached and 
taught and those who did not." 

• Compare 1 Cor. xii. 28, and Philip, i. 1 ; 1 Tim. iii. 1-8. 
7 Acts vi. 3, xiv. 23 ; Titus i. 5 ; James v. 14. 



BISHOPS AND DEACONS. 209 

was occasionally called, prophesying ; 1 others excelled in deliv- 
ering hortatory addresses to the people ; others displayed great 
tact and sagacity in conducting ecclesiastical business, or in 
dealing personally with offenders, or with penitents ; whilst 
others again were singularly successful in imparting private 
instruction to catechumens. Some deacons were frequently 
commissioned to administer to the wants of the sick ; and 
others, who were remarkable for their shrewdness and discrimi- 
nation, were employed to distribute alms to the indigent. In 
one of his epistles Paul pointedly refers to the multiform 
duties of these ecclesiastical office-bearers, " Having then," 
says he, " gifts, differing according to the grace that is given 
to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the pro- 
portion of faith ; or ministry (of the deacon), let us wait on 
•our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that 
exhorteth, on exhortation ; he that giveth, let him do it with 
simplicity ; he that ruleth, with diligence ; he that showeth 
mercy, with cheerfulness." 2 

Some maintain that all the primitive elders, or bishops, 
were preachers ; but the records of apostolic times warrant 
no such conclusion. These elders were appointed to " take 
care of the Church of God "; 3 and it was not necessary 
that each individual should perform all the functions of the 
pastoral office. Even at the present day a single preacher is 
generally sufficient to minister to a single congregation. 
When Paul requires that the elders who rule well, though 
they may not " labor in the word and doctrine," shall be 
counted worthy of double honor, 4 his language distinctly 

1 1 Cor. xiv. 1, 5, 6, 31. 2 Rom. xii. 6-8. 

3 1 Tim. iii. 5. Lightfoot says that "in every synagogue there was a 
civil triumvirate, that is, three magistrates who judged of matters in contest 
arising within that synagogue." — Works, xi. 179. The same writer de- 
clares that " in every synagogue there were elders that ruled in civil affairs, 
and elders that labored in the word and doctrine." — Works, iii. 242, 243. 

4 6nr?J]Q rifiijg. Those who adduce this passage to prove that the apostle 
here defines the pecuniary remuneration of elders, involve themselves in 
much difficulty ; for, if limited to the matter of payment and literally inter- 
preted, it would lead to the inference that, irrespective of the amount of 
service rendered, all the elders should receive the same compensation ; and 

14 



2IO ELDERS SHOULD BE APT TO TEACH. 

indicates that there were then persons designated elders who 
did not preach, and who, notwithstanding, were entitled to 
respect as exemplary and efficient functionaries. It is remark- 
able that when the apostle enumerates the qualifications of a 
bishop, or elder, 1 he scarcely refers to oratorical endowments. 
He states that the ruler of the Church should be grave, sober, 
prudent, and benevolent ; but, as to his ability to propagate 
his principles he employs only one word, rendered in our ver- 
sion "apt to teach." 2 This does not imply that he must be 
qualified to preach, for teaching and preaching are repeatedly 
distinguished in the New Testament ; 3 neither does it signify 
that he is to become a professional tutor, for, as has already 
been intimated, all elders are not expected to labor in the 
word and doctrine; it merely denotes that he should be able 
and willing, as often as an opportunity occurred, to commu- 
nicate a knowledge of divine truth. All believers are 
required to " exhort one another daily," 4 " teaching and ad- 
monishing one another," 5 being " ready always to give an 
answer to every man that asketh them a reason of the hope 
that is in them " ; 8 and those who M watch for souls " should 
be specially zealous in performing these duties of their Chris- 
tian vocation. The word which has been supposed to indicate 
that every elder should be a public instructor occurs in only 
one other instance in the New Testament ; and in that case it 
is used in a connection which serves to illustrate its meaning. 
Paul there states that whilst such as minister to the Lord 
should avoid a controversial spirit, they should at the same 
time be willing to supply explanations to objectors, and to 
furnish them with information. " The servant of the Lord," 
says he, " must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to 

that no church teacher, though the father of a large family, should be allowed 
more than twice the gratuity of a poor widow ! Compare I Tim. v. 3, and 
17. The " double honor " of 1 Tim. v. 17 is evidently equivalent to the " all 
honor " of 1 Tim. vi. 1. In the latter case there can be no reference to 
payment. Paul obviously means to say that the claims of elders should be 
fully recognized ; and in the following verse (1 Tim. v. 18) he refers point- 
edly to the temporal support to which church teachers are entitled. 

1 1 Tim. iii. 2-7. 2 didaKnudv. s Matt. iv. 23 ; Acts v. 42, xv. 35. 

4 Heb. iii. 13. 5 Col. iii. 16. 6 1 Peter iii. 15. 



PREACHING. 211 

teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose them- 
selves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the 
acknowledging of the truth." ' Here the aptness to teach refers 
apparently to a talent for winning over gainsayers by means 
of instruction communicated in private conversation. 2 

But still preaching is the grand ordinance of God, as well 
for the edification of saints as for the conversion of sinners; 
and it was, therefore, necessary that at least some of the 
session or eldership connected with each flock should be 
competent to conduct the congregational worship. As 
spiritual gifts were more abundant in the apostolic times 
than afterward, at first several of the elders 3 were often 
found ready to take part in its celebration. By degrees, 
however, nearly the whole service devolved on one individ- 
ual ; and this preaching elder was very properly treated 
with peculiar deference. 4 He was accordingly soon recog- 
nized as the stated president of the presbytery, or eldership. 

It thus appears that the preaching elder held the most 
honorable position among the ordinary functionaries of the 
Apostolic Church. Whilst his office required the highest 
order of gifts and accomplishments, and exacted the largest 
amount of mental and even physical exertion, the prosperity 
of the whole ecclesiastical community depended mainly on 
his acceptance and efficiency. The people are accordingly 
frequently reminded that they are bound to respect and 
sustain their spiritual instructors. "Let him that is taught 
in the word," says Paul, " communicate unto him that teach- 
eth in all good things." 6 " The Scripture saith, Thou 

1 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25. 

2 Even a female, though not permitted to speak in the Church, had often 
this aptness for teaching. Such was the case with the excellent Priscilla, 
Acts xviii. 26. The aged women were required to be " teachers of good 
things," Titus ii. 5. 

3 In the Church of Corinth several speakers were in the habit of address- 
ing the same meeting. 1 Cor. xiv. 26, 27, 29, 31. 

4 Tim. v. 17. Though ordination was by " the laying on of the hands of 
the presbytery, " the New Testament does not mention any case in which a 
ruling elder thus officiated. See Acts vi. 6, xiii. 1-3, xiv. 23. 

5 Gal. vi. 6. 



*2I2 THE APOSTLES. 

shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn ; and, 
The laborer is worthy of his reward." 3 "So hath tk* 
Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should 
live of the Gospel." a 

The apostles held a position which no ministers after 
them could occupy, for they were appointed by our Lord 
himself to organize the Church. As they were to carry 
out instructions which they had received from His own 
lips, and as they were armed with the power of working 
miracles, 3 they possessed an extraordinary share of per- 
sonal authority. Aware that their circumstances were 
peculiar, and that their services would be available till the 
end of time, 4 they left the ecclesiastical government, as 
they passed away one after another, to the care of the 
elders who had meanwhile shared in its administration. 6 
As soon as the Church began to assume a settled form, 
they mingled with these elders on terms of equality ; and, 
as at the Council of Jerusalem, 6 sat with them in the same 
deliberative assemblies. When Paul addressed the elders 
of Ephesus for the last, time, and took his solemn farewell 
of them, 7 he commended the Church to their charge, and 
emphatically pressed upon them the importance of fidelity 
and vigilance. 8 In his Second Epistle to Timothy, written 
in the prospect of his martyrdom, he makes no allusion to 
the expediency of selecting another individual to fill his 
place. The apostles had fully executed their commission 

1 i Tim. v. 18. 2 i Cor. ix. 14. 3 Matt. x.i; 1 Cor. xiv. 18. 

4 " The place which the apostles occupied while they lived is now filled, 
not by a living order of ministers, but by their own inspired writings, which 
constitute, or ought to constitute, the supreme authority in the Church of 

God The New Testament Scriptures, as they are the only real apos- 

tolate now in existence, so, are sufficient to supply to us the place of the 
inspired Twelve." — Litton s Church of Christ, p. 410. 

5 " While it is clearly recorded that the apostles instituted the orders of 
presbyters and deacons, it is not so clearly recorded, indeed it is not record- 
ed at all, that they instituted the order of bishops." — Litton, p. 426. Such 
a testimony from a Fellow of Oxford is creditable alike to his candor and his 
intelligence. 

6 Acts xv. 6, xvi. 4, xxi. 18, 25. 7 Acts xx. 17, 25. 8 Acts xx. 29-31. 



THE APOSTLES. 213 

when, as wise master-builders, they laid the foundation of 
the Church and fairly exhibited the divine model of the 
glorious structure; and as no other parties could produce 
the same credentials, no others could pretend to the same 
authority. But even the apostles repeatedly testified that 
they regarded the preaching of the Word as the highest 
department of their office. It was not as church rulers, but 
as church teachers, that they were specially distinguished. 
" We will give ourselves," said they, " continually to prayer, 
and to the ministry of the Word." 1 "Christ sent me," said 
Paul, " not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel." 2 " Unto 
me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace 
given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearcha- 
ble riches of Christ." 3 

1 Acts vi. 4. " Here," says Mr. Litton, " no mention is made of govern- 
ment or of ordination, as the special prerogative of the apostolic office; 
and if it were not dangerous to lay too much stress upon a single passage, 
it might from this one be plausibly inferred that the special function of the 
apostles, as representatives of the ordinary Christian ministry, has descend- 
ed, not to bishops, but to presbyters, to whom it specially pertains to give 
themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word." — Litton's Church of 
Christ, p. 407. It is certainly not dangerous to lay as much stress upon 
any Scripture as it will legitimately bear, and the inference here drawn is in 
accordance with the rules of the most exact logic. 

2 1 Cor. i. 17. 

3 Eph. iii. 8. In dealing with individuals, the apostles seldom challenged 
obedience on the ground of their divine authority. When they are repre- 
sented as directing the movements of ministers, the language generally 
implies simply that the parties in question undertook certain services at their 
instigation or request, or by their advice. Thus, Paul says that he besought 
Timothy to abide at Ephesus, that he left Titus in Crete, and that he sent 
Epaphroditus to the Philippians (1 Tim. i. 3 ; Titus i. 5 ; Philip, ii. 25). But 
Paul himself is said to have been sent forth to Tarsus by the brethren (Acts 
ix. 30). When Mark refused to accompany Paul and Silas into Asia Minor 
he did not therefore forfeit his ecclesiastical status (Acts xiii. 13, xv. 37-39). 
Apart from their special commission, the apostles were entitled to deference 
from other ministers on account of their superior age and experience ; and 
Paul sometimes refers to this claim. See Philem. 8, 9. On the same ground 
all who have recently entered the ministry are .bound to yield precedence to 
aged pastors, and to respect their advice. See 1 Peter v. 5. 



214 TIMOTHY. 

But though, according to the New Testament, the business 
of ruling originally formed only a subordinate part of the 
duty of the church teacher, some have maintained that eccle- 
siastical government pertains to a higher function than eccle- 
siastical instruction ; and that the apostles instituted a class 
of spiritual overseers to whose jurisdiction all other preachers 
are amenable. They imagine that, in the Pastoral Epistles, 
they find proofs of the existence of such functionaries ; ' and 
they contend that Timothy and Titus were diocesan bishops, 
respectively of Ephesus and Crete. But the arguments by 
which they endeavor to sustain these views are quite incon- 
clusive. Paul says to Timothy, " I besought thee to abide 
still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that tJion 
mi g] it est c J targe some that tJiey teach no other doctrine "; 2 and 
it has hence been inferred that the evangelist was the only 
minister in the capital of the Proconsular Asia who was suffi- 
ciently authorized to oppose heresiarchs. It happens, how- 
ever, that in this epistle the writer says also to his corre- 
spondent, " Charge them that are rich in this world that they 
be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches "; 3 so that, 
according to the same method of interpretation, Timothy was 
the only preacher in the place at liberty to admonish the opu- 
lent. When Paul subsequently stood face to face with the 
elders of Ephesus, 4 he told them that it was their common 

1 It can scarcely be necessary to remind the reader that the postscripts to 
these epistles setting forth that Timothy was " ordained the first bishop of 
the Church of the Ephesians," and that Titus was "ordained the first 
bishop of the Church of the Cretians," are spurious. See Period i., sec. ii., 
chap, i., p. 161. 

■ i Tim. i. 3. Paul says (1 Cor. iv. 17) to the Corinthians, " I have sent 

unto you Timotheus, who shall bring you into remembrance of my 

ways which be in Christ"; and, according to the mode of reasoning em- 
ployed by some, we might infer from this text that Timothy was bishop of 
Corinth. " It is a suspicious circumstance," says Dr. Burton, "that several 
persons who are mentioned in the New Testament, are said to have been 
bishops of the places connected with their names. Thus Cornelius is said 
to have been bishop of Csesarea, and to have succeeded Zacchaeus, though 
it is highly improbable that either of them filled such an office.'' — Lectures, 
i., p. 182. 

3 1 Tim. vi. 17. 4 See Period i., sect, i., chap, ix., p. 117. 



TITUS. 215 

duty to discountenance and resist false teachers ; 2 and he had 
therefore no idea of intrusting that responsibility to any soli- 
tary individual. The reason why the service was pressed 
specially on Timothy is sufficiently apparent. He had been 
trained up by Paul himself ; he was a young minister remark- 
able for intelligence, ability, and circumspection; and he was 
accordingly deemed eminently qualified to deal with the er- 
rorists. Hence at this juncture his presence at Ephesus was 
considered of importance ; and the apostle besought him to 
remain there whilst he himself was absent on another mis- 
sion. 

The argument founded on the instructions addressed to 
Titus is equally unsatisfactory. Paul says to him, " For this 
cause left I .thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the 
things that are wanting, and ordain 2 elders in every city as I 
had appointed thee "; 3 and from these words the inference 
has been drawn that to Titus alone was committed the eccle- 
siastical oversight of all the churches of the island. But the 
words of the apostle warrant no such sweeping conclusion. 
Apollos, 4 and perhaps other ministers equal in authority to 
the evangelist, were now in Crete, and ready to co-operate in 
the business of church organization. Titus, besides, had no 
right to act without the concurrence of the people ; for, in 
all cases, even when the apostles were officiating, the church 
members were consulted in ecclesiastical appointments. 5 It 
would appear that the evangelist had much administrative 
ability, and this was obviously the great reason why he was 
left behind Paul in Crete. The apostle expected that, with 
his peculiar energy and tact, he would stimulate the zeal of 
the people, as well as of the other preachers ; and thus com- 
plete, as speedily as possible, the needful ecclesiastical ar- 
rangements. 
* When Paul once said to the high-priest of Israel, " Sittest 

1 Acts xx. 30, 31. 

2 The word aaraar^ari^, here translated " ordain," should rather be ren- 
dered constitute, or establish. 

3 Titus i. 5. 4 Titus iii. 13. 5 Acts vi. 3, xiv. 23 ; 2 Cor. viii. 19, 23. 



2l6 TIMOTHY AND TITUS. 

thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be 
smitten contrary to the law" 1 — he had no intention of de- 
claring that the dignitary he addressed was the only member 
of the Jewish council who had the right of adjudication. 9 
The court consisted of at least seventy individuals, every one 
of whom had a vote as effective as that of the personage with 
whom he thus remonstrated. It is said that the high-priest 
at this period was not even the president of the Sanhedrim. 3 
Paul was perfectly aware of the constitution of the tribunal 
to which Ananias belonged ; and he merely meant to remind 
his oppressor that the circumstances in which he was placed 
added greatly to the iniquity of his present procedure. 
Though only one of the members of a large judicatory, he 
was not the less accountable. Thus too, when Jesus said to 
Paul himself, " I send thee " to the Gentiles, " to open their 
eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the 
power of Satan unto God," 4 it was certainly not understood 
that the apostle was to be the only laborer in the wide field 
of heathendom. The address simply intimated that he was 
individually commissioned to undertake the service. And 
though there were other ministers at Ephesus and Crete, 
Paul reminds Timothy and Titus that he had left them there 
to perform specific duties, and thus urges upon them the con- 
sideration of their personal responsibility. Though sur- 
rounded by so many apostles and evangelists, he tells us that 
there rested on himself daily " the care of all the churches "; 6 
for he believed that the whole commonwealth of the saints 
had a claim on his prayers, his sympathy, and his services ; 
and he desired to cherish in the hearts of his young brethren 
the same feeling of individual obligation. Hence, in these 
Pastoral Epistles, he gives his correspondents minute instruc- 
tions respecting all the departments of the ministerial office, 

1 Acts xxiii. 3. 

2 " The whole Sanhedrim were the judges, and sitting to judge him ac- 
cording to the law." — A If "or d on Acts xxiii. 3. 

3 See Prideaux's "Connections," part ii., books 1 and 8. 

4 Acts xxvi. 17, 18. See also, as another illustration, Matt. xvi. 19. 
B 2 Cor. xi. 28. 



TIMOTHY AND TITUS. 2\y 

and reminds them how much depends on their personal faith- 
fulness. Hence he here points out to them how they are to 
deport themselves in public and in private ; ' as preachers of 
the Word, and as members of church judicatories ; 2 toward 
the rich and the poor, masters and slaves, young men and 
widows. 3 But there is not a single advice addressed to 
Timothy and Titus in any of these three epistles which may 
not be appropriately given to any ordinary minister of the 
Gospel, or which necessarily implies that either of these evan- 
gelists exercised exclusive ecclesiastical authority in Ephesus 
or Crete. 4 

The legend that Timothy and Titus were the bishops re- 
spectively of Ephesus and Crete is mentioned first about the 
beginning of the fourth century, and at a time when the 
original constitution of the Church had been completely, 
though silently, revolutionized. 6 It is obvious that, when the 
Pastoral Epistles were written, these ministers were not perma- 
nently located in the places with which their names have been 
associated. 6 The apostle John resided principally at Ephesus 
during the last thirty years of the first century ; 7 so that, ac- 
cording to this tale, the beloved disciple was under the ecclesi- 
astical supervision of Timothy ! The story otherwise exhibits 
internal marks of absurdity and fabrication. Paul is repre- 
sented by it as distributing most unequally the burden of 

1 i Tim. iv. 12, 13 ; 2 Tim. ii. 22, 23 ; Titus ii. 7, 8. 

2 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2, iv. 16, v. 19, 20, 22 ; 2 Tim. ii. 2, 15, iv. 2, 5 ; Titus iii. 

8,9. 

3 1 Tim. v. 5, 16, vi. 1, 2, 9, 17 ; Titus ii. 6, 9, 10. 

4 One of the most remarkable instances of an appeal to the sense of indi- 
vidual obligation in a case where many were concerned may be found in 
Gal. vi. 1. 

5 Whitby, in his " Preface to the Epistle to Titus," says candidly of the 
allegation that Timothy and Titus were bishops respectively of Ephesus and 
Crete : " Now, of this matter, I confess I can find nothing in any writer of 
the first three centuries, nor any intimation that they bore that name." 

8 1 Tim. i. 3; 2 Tim. iv. 10, 12, 21 ; Titus i. 5, iii. 12. 

7 Hence Fulgentius speaks of " cathedra Joannis Evangelistae Ephesi." 
Lib. " De Trinitate," c, 1. Contradictory traditions sometimes happily anni- 
hilate each other. As to the residence of John at Ephesus see Euseb. iii. 23. 



2l8 THE GREATEST AMONG THN BRETHREN. 

official labor ; for whilst Timothy presided over the Christians 
of a single city, Titus was invested with the care of a whole 
island celebrated in ancient times for its hundred cities? It is 
well known that long after this period, and when the distinction 
between the president of the presbytery and his elders was 
fully established, a bishop had the charge of only one church, 
so that the account of the episcopate of Titus over all Crete 
must be rejected as a monstrous fiction. 

On the occasion of an ambitious request from James and 
John, our Lord expounded to His apostles one of the great 
principles of His ecclesiastical polity. "Jesus called them to 
him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are 
accounted to rule over the 'Gentiles exercise lordship over 
them ; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. 
But so shall it not be among you, but whosoever will be great 
among you, shall be your minister, and whosoever of you will 
be chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of Man 
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give 
his life a ransom for many." 2 The teaching elder holds the 
most honorable position in the Church, simply because his 
office is the most laborious, the most responsible, and the most 
useful. And no minister of the Word is warranted to exercise 
lordship over his brethren, for all are equally the servants of 
the same Divine Master. He is the greatest who is most will- 
ing to humble himself, to spend, and to be spent, that Christ 
may be exalted. Even the Son of Man came, not to be min- 
istered unto, but to minister; it was His meat and His drink 
to do the will of His Father in heaven ; He was ready to give 
instruction to many or to few ; at the sea or by the wayside ; 
in the house, the synagogue, or the corn-field ; on the mount- 
ain or in the desert ; when sitting in the company of publicans, 
or when He had not where to lay His head. He who exhibits 
most of the spirit and character of the Great Teacher is the 
most illustrious of Christ's ministers. 

The primitive Church was pre-eminently a free society; 
and, with a view to united action, its members were taught 

1 Homer, " Iliad," ii. v. 156. * 2 Mark x. 42-45. 



ELECTION BY THE PEOPLE. 2IO, 

to consult together respecting all matters of common interest. 
Whilst the elders were required to beware attempting to 
domineer over each other, they were also warned against de- 
porting themselves as " lords over God's heritage." * All were 
instructed to be courteous, forbearing, and conciliatory ; and 
each individual was made to understand that he possessed some 
importance. Though the apostles, as inspired rulers of the 
Christian commonwealth, might have done many things on 
their own authority ; yet, even in concerns comparatively triv- 
ial, as well as in affairs of the greatest consequence, they were 
guided by the wishes of the people. When an apostle was to 
be chosen in the place of Judas, the multitude were consulted. 2 
When deputies were required to accompany Paul in a journey 
to be undertaken for the public service, the apostle did not 
himself select his fellow-travellers, but the churches concerned, 
proceeded, by a regular vote, to make the appointment. 3 
When deacons or elders were to be nominated, the choice 
rested with the congregation. 4 The records of the apostolic age 
do not mention any ordinary church functionary who was not 
called to his office by popular suffrage. 5 

But though, in apostolic times, the laity were thus freely 
intrusted with the elective franchise, the constitution of the 
primitive Church was not purely democratic ; for as its office- 
bearers were elected for life, and as its elders or bishops formed 
a species of spiritual aristocracy, the powers of the people and 
the rulers were so balanced as to check each other's aberra- 
tions, and to promote the healthful action of all parts of the 
ecclesiastical body. When a deacon or a bishop was elected, 
he was not permitted, without farther ceremony, to enter up- 
on the duties of his vocation. He was bound to submit him- 
self to the presbytery, that they might ratify the choice by 
ordination ; and this court, by refusing the imposition of hands, 

1 i Pet. v. 3. 2 Acts i. 15, 21-23, 26. 

3 2 Cor. viii. 19, 23. See also 1 Cor. xvi. 3. 

4 Acts vi. 3, xiv. 23. See also 1 Tim. iii. 10, compared with 1 John iv. 1. 

6 Clemens Romanus states that, in the apostolic age, ecclesiastical appoint- 
ments were made " with the approbation of the whole church." " Epist. to 
Corinthians," §44. 



220 ORDINATION BY THE PRESBYTERY. 

could protect the Church against the intrusion of incompetent 
or unworthy candidates. 1 

Among the Jews every ordained elder was considered 
qualified to join in the ordination of others. 2 The same princi- 
ple was acknowledged in the early Christian Church ; and 
when any functionary was elected, he was introduced to his 
office by the presbytery of the city or district with which he 
was connected. There is no instance in the apostolic age in 
which ordination was conferred by a single individual. Paul 
and Barnabas were separated to the work to which the Lord 
had called them by the ministers of Antioch ; 3 the first elders 
of the Christian Churches of Asia Minor were set apart by 
Paul and Barnabas ; * Timothy was invested with ecclesiastical 
authority by " the laying on of the hands of the presbytery "; 6 
and even the seven deacons were ordained by the twelve apos- 
tles acting, for the time, as the presbytery of Jerusalem. 8 

Toward the conclusion of the Epistle to the Romans, 7 Paul 
mentions Phcebe, " a servant 8 of the Church which is at Cen- 
chrea"; and from this passage some have inferred that the 
apostles instituted an order of deaconesses. We can not well 
build such an hypothesis on the foundation of a solitary text 
of doubtful significance. It may be that Phcebe was one of 
the poor widows supported by the Church ; 9 and that, as such, 
she was employed by the elders in various little services of a 
confidential or benevolent character. She seems, at one period, 
to have been in more comfortable circumstances, and she had 
then distinguished herself by her humane and obliging dispo- 
sition ; for Paul refers apparently to this portion of her history, 

1 Acts vi. 6 ; I Tim. v. 22. 

2 See Selden, " De Synedriis," lib. i. c. 14. 

3 Acts xiii. 1-3. 4 Acts xiv. 23. 

5 1 Tim. iv. 14. That the preposition fiera here indicates the instrumental 
cause, see Acts xiii. 17, xiv. 27. 

6 Acts vi. 6. Some have thought it strange that Paul gives no instructions 
to Titus respecting the ordination of deacons in Crete. See Titus i. 8. This 
was unnecessary, as the elders, when ordained, could afterward ordain 
deacons. 

7 Rom. xvi. 1. * dt&Kovov. ° 1 Tim. v. 3, 4, 9. 



EVERY CHURCH MEMBER USEFUL. 221 

when he says, "she hath been a succorer of many, and of 
myself also." 1 

In the primitive age all the members of the Church were 
closely associated. As brethren and sisters in the faith they 
took a deep interest in each other's prosperity ; and they re- 
garded the afflictions of any disciple as a calamity which had 
befallen the society. Each individual was expected in some 
way to contribute to the well-being of all. Even humble 
Phcebe was the bearer of an apostolic letter to the Romans ; 
and, on her return to Cenchrea, she could exert a healthful in- 
fluence among the female disciples by her advice, her exam- 
ple, and her prayers. The industrious scribe rendered good 
service to the brotherhood by writing out copies of the gos- 
pels or epistles ; and the pleasant singer, as he joined in the 
holy psalm, thrilled the hearts of the faithful by his notes of 
grave sweet melody. By establishing a plurality of both el- 
ders and deacons in every worshipping society, the apostles 
provided more efficiently, as well for its temporal as for its 
spiritual interests ; and the most useful members of the con- 
gregation were thus put into positions in which their various 
graces and endowments were better exhibited and exercised. 
One deacon attested his fitness for his office by his delicate 
attentions to the sick, another by his considerate kindness to 
the poor, and another by his judicious treatment of the indo- 
lent, the insincere, and the improvident. One elder excelled 
as an awakening preacher, another as a sound expositor, and 
another as a sagacious counsellor ; whilst another still, who 
never ventured to address the congregation, and whose voice 
was seldom heard at the meetings of the eldership, visited the 
house of mourning or the chamber of disease, and there poured 
forth the fulness of his heart in most appropriate and impres- 
sive supplications. Every one was taught to appreciate the 
talents of his neighbor, and to feel that he was, to some ex- 
tent, dependent on others for his own edification. The 
preaching elder could not say to the ruling elders, " I have 
no need of you "; neither could the elders say to the deacons, 

1 Rom. xvi. 2. 



222 EVERY CHURCH MEMBER USEFUL. 

" We have no need of you." When the sweet singer was ab- 
sent, every one admitted that the congregational music was 
less interesting ; when the skilful penman removed to another 
district, the Church soon began to complain of a scarcity of 
copies of the sacred manuscripts ; and even when the pious 
widow died in a good old age, the blank was visible, and the 
loss of a faithful servant of the Church was acknowledged and 
deplored. " As the body is one and hath many members, and 
all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, 
so also is Christ. And the eye can not say unto the hand, I 
have no need of thee : nor again the head to the feet, I have 
no need of you. And whether one member suffer, all the 
members suffer with it ; or one member be honored, all the 
members rejoice with it." 1 

1 1 Cor. xii. 12, 21, 26. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 

The Israelites were emphatically " a peculiar people." 
Though amounting in the days of our Lord to several mil- 
lions of individuals, they were all the lineal descendants of 
Abraham ; and though two thousand years had passed away 
since the time of their great progenitor, they had not inter- 
mingled, to any considerable extent, with the rest of the hu- 
man family. The bulk of the nation still occupied the land 
granted by promise to the " father of the faithful"; the same 
farms had been held by the same families from age to age ; 
and probably some of the proprietors could boast that their 
ancestors, fifteen hundred years before, had taken possession 
of the very fields they now cultivated. They had all one form 
of worship, one high-priest, and one place of sacrifice. At 
stated seasons every year all the males of a certain age were 
required to meet together at Jerusalem, and thus a full repre- 
sentation of the whole race was frequently collected in one 
great congregation. 

The written law of Moses was the sacred bond which united 
so closely the Church of Israel. The ritual observances of the 
Hebrews, which had all a typical meaning, are described by 
the inspired lawgiver with singular minuteness ; and any devi- 
ation from them was forbidden, not only because it involved 
an impeachment either of the authority or the wisdom of Je- 
hovah, but also because it was calculated to mar their signifi- 
cance. Under the Mosaic economy, the posterity of Abra- 
ham were taught to regard each other as members of the same 
family ; interested, as joint heirs, in the blessings promised to 
their distinguished ancestor. The Israelites were knit to- 

(223) 



224 MEANING OF THE WORD "CHURCH." 

gether by innumerable ties, as well secular as religious ; and, 
when they appeared in one multitudinous assemblage on oc- 
casions of peculiar solemnity, 1 they presented a specimen of 
ecclesiastical unity such as the world has never since contem- 
plated. 

Some, however, have contended that the Christian com- 
munity was originally constructed upon very different princi- 
ples. According to them the word churcJi' 1 in the New Testa- 
ment is always used in one of two senses — either as denoting 
a single worshipping society, or the whole commonwealth of 
the faithful ; and from this they infer that, in primitive times, 
every Christian congregation was independent of every other. 
But such allegations, which are exceedingly improbable in 
themselves, are found, when carefully investigated, to be to- 
tally destitute of foundation. The Church of Jerusalem, 3 
with the tens of thousands of individuals belonging to it, 4 
must have consisted of several congregations ; 5 the Church of 
Antioch, to which so many prophets and teachers ministered, 6 
was in a similar position; and the Church of Palestine 7 com- 
prehended a large number of associated churches. When our 
Saviour prayed that all His people " may be one," 8 He indi- 
cated that the unity of the Church, so strikingly exhibited in 

1 Such as we find described in Deut. xxxi. 10-12. 

2 In Greek, eiacfaioia. The reference in the text is to its ecclesiastical use, 
for in the New Testament it sometimes signifies a mob. See Acts xix. 32. 

3 Acts xi. 22, xv. 4. 

4 Acts xxi. 20, rrooat fivpiddec — literally, " how many tens of thousands." 

5 One of these is mentioned Acts xii. 12. 6 Acts xiii. 1. 

7 Acts ix. 31. The true reading here is, "Then had the church (ennATicia) 
rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria." This reading is sup- 
ported by the most ancient manuscripts, including ABC and the Codex 
Sinaiticus; by the Vulgate, and nearly all the ancient versions, including 
the old Syriac, Coptic, Sahiclic, Ethiopian, Arabic of Erpenius, and Ar- 
menian ; and by the most distinguished critics, such as Bengel, Kuinoel, 
Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, and Tregelles. It is likewise sustained by 
the authority of by far the most valuable cursive MS. in existence. See 
Scrivener's "Codex Augiensis," Introd. lxviii. and p. 425. Cambridge, 
1859. See another case mentioned in the note 2, p. 72 of this volume, in 
which "the church" means "the apostles and elders." 

8 John xvii. 21. 



CONGREGATIONS NOT INDEPENDENT. 225 

the nation of Israel, should still be studied and maintained ; 
and when Paul describes the household of faith, he speaks of 
it, not as a loose mass of independent congregations, but as a 
" body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every 
joint supplieth." 1 The apostle here refers to the vital union 
of believers by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost ; but he al- 
ludes also to those " bands " of outward ordinances, and 
" joints" 2 of visible confederation, by w T hich their commun- 
ion is upheld; for, were the Church split into an indefinite 
number of insulated congregations, even the unity of the 
spirit could neither be distinctly ascertained nor properly cul- 
tivated. When influenced by the spirit of Divine Love, the 
machinery of the Church moves in admirable harmony and 
accomplishes the most astonishing results ; but, when per- 
vaded by another spirit, it is strained and dislocated, and in 
danger of dashing itself to pieces. 

Those who hold that every congregation, however small, is 
a complete church in itself, are quite unable to explain why 
the system of ecclesiastical organization should be thus cir- 
cumscribed. The New Testament inculcates the unity of all 
the faithful, as well as the unity of particular societies ; and 
the same principle of Christian brotherhood which prompts a 
number of individuals to meet together for religious fellowship, 
should also lead a number of congregations in the same lo- 
cality to fraternize. The Twelve may be regarded as the rep- 
resentatives of the doctrine of ecclesiastical confederation, for, 
though they were commanded to go into all the world, and to 
preach the Gospel to every creature, yet, as long as circum- 
stances permitted, they continued to co-operate. " When the 
apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had re- 
ceived the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John "; 3 
and, at a subsequent period, they concurred in sending "forth 
Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch." * These facts 

^ph. iv. 16. 2 See Col. ii. 19. 3 Acts viii. 14. 

4 Acts xi. 22. " No notion is more at variance with the spirit of apostolic 
Christianity than that of societies of Christians existing in the same neigh- 
borhood, but not in communion with each other, and not under a common 
government. " — Litton, p. 450. 

15 



226 THE GREAT SANHEDRIM. 

distinctly prove that they had a common interest in everything 
pertaining to the well-being of the whole Christian common- 
wealth ; and that, like Paul, they were intrusted with " the care 
of all the churches." Nor did the early Christian congrega- 
tions act independently. They believed that union is strength, 
and they were " knit together " in ecclesiastical relationship. 
Hence we read of the brother who was "chosen of the 
churches " ' to travel with the Apostle Paul. It is now impos- 
sible to determine in what way this choice was made — whether 
at a general meeting of deputies from different congregations, 
or by a separate vote in each particular society — but, in what- 
ever way the election was accomplished, the appointment of 
one representative for several churches was itself a recognition 
of their ecclesiastical unity. 

We have seen that the worship of the Church was much the 
same as the worship of the synagogue, 2 and it would appear 
that its polity also was borrowed from the institutions of the 
chosen people. 3 Every Jewish congregation was governed by 
a bench of elders, and in every city there was a smaller sanhe- 
drim, or presbytery, consisting of twenty-three members, 4 to 
which the neighboring synagogues were subject. Jerusalem 
had two of these smaller sanhedrims, as it was found that the 
multitudes of cases arising among so vast a population were 
more than sufficient to occupy the time of any one judicatory. 
Appeals lay from all these tribunals to the Great Sanhedrim, 
or " Council," so frequently mentioned in the New Testa- 
ment. 5 This court consisted of seventy or seventy-two mem- 
bers, made up, perhaps, in equal portions, of chief priests, 

1 2 Cor. viii. 19. 2 Period i., sec. in., chap, i., p. 191. 

3 " That the Church did really derive its polity from the synagogue is a 
fact upon the proof of which, in the present state of theological learning, it 
is needless to expend many words." — Litton' s Church of Christ, p. 254. 

4 See Selden, " De Synedriis," lib. ii., c. 5 ; Lightfoot's " Works," iii. 242, 
and xi. 179. Josephus says that Moses appointed only seven judges in 
every city. " Antiq." book iv., c. 8, § 14. See, also, "Wars of the Jews," 
ii., c. 20, § 5. 

5 Luke xxii. 66 ; Acts v. 21, vi. 15. See, also, Prideaux, part ii., book vii., 
and Lightfoot's " Works," ix. 342. 



THE GREAT SANHEDRIM. 227 

scribes, and elders of the people. 1 The chief priests were prob- 
ably twenty-four in number — each of the twenty-four courses, 
into which the sacerdotal order was divided, 2 thus furnish- 
ing one representative. The scribes were the men of learning, 
like Gamaliel, 3 who had devoted themselves to the study of 
the Jewish law, and who possessed recondite, as well as 
extensive information. The elders were laymen of reputed 
wisdom and experience, who, in practical matters, were ex- 
pected to give sound advice. 4 It was not strange that the 
Jews had so profound a regard for their Great Sanhedrim. In 
the days of our Lord and His apostles it had, indeed, miser- 
ably degenerated ; but, at an earlier period, its members were 
eminently entitled to respect, as in point of intelligence, pru- 
dence, piety, and patriotism, they held the very highest place 
among their countrymen. 

The details of the ecclesiastical polity of the ancient Israel- 
ites are involved in much obscurity ; but the preceding state- 
ments may be received as a pretty accurate description of its 
chief outlines. Our Lord himself, in the sermon on the 
mount, refers to the great council and its subordinate judica- 
tories ; 6 and, in the Old Testament, appeals from inferior tri- 
bunals to the authorities in the holy city are explicitly en- 
joined. 8 All the synagogues, not only in Palestine, but in 
foreign countries, obeyed the orders of the Sanhedrim at Je- 
rusalem ; 7 and it constituted a court of review to which all 
other ecclesiastical arbiters yielded submission. 

In the government of the Apostolic Church we may trace a 
resemblance to these arrangements. Every Christian congre- 
gation, like every synagogue, had its elders ; and every city 
had its presbytery, consisting of the spiritual julers of the dis- 
trict. In the introductory chapters of the book of the Acts we 
discover the germ of this ecclesiastical constitution ; for we 

1 Matt. xvi. 21, xxvi. 59; Mark xv. 1. See, also, Lightfoot's "Works," 
iv. 223. 

2 1 Chron. xxiv. 4, 7-18. 3 Acts v. 34. 

4 As they represented the people, and were probably twenty-four in num- 
ber, there may be a reference to them in Rev. iv. 4. 

5 Matt. v. 22. 6 Deut. xvii. 8-10 ; 2 Chron. xix. 8-1 1 ; Ps. cxxii. 5. 
7 Acts ix. 1, 2, 14. 



228 THE PRESBYTERY. 

there find the apostles ministering to thousands of converts, 
and, as the presbytery of Jerusalem, ordaining deacons, exer- 
cising discipline, and sending out missionaries. 1 The prophets 
and teachers of Antioch performed the same functions ; 2 Titus 
was instructed to have elders established, or a presbytery con- 
stituted, in every city of Crete ; 3 and Timothy was ordained by 
such a judicatory. 4 For the first thirty years after the death 
of our Lord a large proportion of the ministers of the Gospel 
were Jews by birth, and as they were in the habit of going up 
to Jerusalem to celebrate the great festivals, they appear to 
have taken advantage of the opportunity, and to have held 
meetings in the holy city for consultation respecting the af- 
fairs of the Christian commonwealth. Prudence and conven- 
ience conspired to dictate this course, as they could then 
reckon upon finding there a considerable number of able and 
experienced elders, and as their presence in the Jewish metropo- 
lis on such occasions was fitted to awaken no suspicion. 5 

We thus see that the transaction mentioned in the 15th 
chapter of the Acts admits of a simple and satisfactory ex- 
planation. When the question respecting the circumcision of 
the Gentile converts began to be discussed at Antioch, there 
were individuals in that city as well qualified as any in Jeru- 
salem to pronounce upon its merits ; for the Church there en- 
joyed the ministry of prophets ; and Paul, its most distin- 
guished teacher, was " not a whit behind the very chiefest 
apostles." But the parties proceeded in the matter in much 
the same way as Israelites were accustomed to act under 
similar circumstances. Had a controversy relative to any 
Mosaic ceremony divided the Jewish population of Antioch, 
they would have appealed for a decision to their Great San- 
hedrim ; and when this dispute distracted the Christians of the 
capital of Syria, they had recourse to another tribunal at Jeru- 
salem which they considered competent to pronounce a de- 

1 Acts ii. 14, 41, 42, iv. 4, 32, 33, 35, v. 14, 42, vi. 6, 7, viii. 14. 

2 Acts xiii. 1,3. 3 Titus i. 5. 4 1 Tim. iv. 14. 

6 In the same way the Puritans, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, frequently 
held meetings in London during the sittings of Parliament. See Collier, 
vii. 33, 64. 






THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM. 229 

liverance. 1 This tribunal consisted virtually of the rulers of the 
universal Church ; for the apostles, who had a commission to 
all the world, and elders from almost every place where a 
Christian congregation existed, were in the habit of repairing 
to the capital of Palestine. In one respect this judicatory 
differed from the Jewish council, for it was not limited to 
seventy members. In accordance with the free spirit of the 
Gospel dispensation, it consisted of as many ecclesiastical 
rulers as could conveniently attend its meetings. But the 
times were perilous ; and the ministers of the early Christian 
Church did not deem it expedient to congregate in very large 
numbers. 

A single Scripture precedent for the regulation of the 
Church is as decisive as a multitude ; and though the New 
Testament distinctly records only one instance 2 in which a 
question of difficulty was referred by a lower to a higher eccle- 
siastical tribunal, this case sufficiently illustrates the character 
of the primitive polity. A very substantial reason can be 
given why Scripture takes so little notice of the meetings of 
Christian judicatories. The different portions of the New 
Testament were put into circulation as soon as written ; and 
though it was most important that the heathen should be 
made acquainted with the doctrines of the Church, it was not 
by any means expedient that their attention should be par- 
ticularly directed to the machinery by which it was regulated. 
An accurate knowledge of its constitution must have exposed 
it more fearfully to the attacks of persecuting Emperors. 
Every effort would have been made to discover the times and 
places of the meetings of pastors and teachers, and to inflict 

1 For a more particular account of the constitution of the meeting men- 
tioned in the 15th chapter of the Acts, see Period i., sec. i., chap, v., p. 72. 

2 We read in Acts xxi. 18, of another meeting of elders at Jerusalem at 
the time of one of the great festivals. See Acts xx. 16. Eusebius tells (" Ecc. 
Hist." iii. 11) how the surviving apostles and disciples "from all parts" 
met at Jerusalem after its destruction by Titus, and appointed Simeon to 
preside over the Church there. The story, though garbled, probably rests 
on some basis of truth, as a meeting of apostles and elders, in all likeli- 
hood, may have occurred about the time mentioned. 



230 APOSTLES AND ELDERS SIT TOGETHER. 

a deadly wound on the Church by the destruction of its office- 
bearers. Hence, in general, its courts assembled privately, 
and thus it is that, for the first three centuries, so little is 
known of the proceedings of these conventions. 

In the first century, when the rulers of the Church met for 
consultation, they all sat in the same assembly. When the 
ecclesiastical constitution was fairly settled, even the Twelve 
were disposed to waive their personal claims to precedence, 
and to assume the status of ordinary ministers. We find, 
accordingly, that there were then no higher and lower houses 
of convocation ; for " the apostles and elders came together." l 
Some who suppose that the James mentioned in Acts xv. 13 
was the first bishop of the holy city, imagine that in his 
manner of giving the advice adopted at the Synod of Jerusa- 
lem, they can detect marks of his prelatic influence. 2 But the 
sacred narrative, when candidly interpreted, merely shows that 
he acted on the occasion as a judicious counsellor. He was, 
assuredly, not entitled to dictate to Paul or Peter. The rea- 
soning of those who maintain that, as a matter of right, he 
expected the meeting to yield to the weight of his official au- 
thority, proves, not that he was. bishop of the Jewish capital, 
but that he was the prince of the apostles. 

The New Testament history speaks frequently of James, 
the brother of John, and extends over the whole period of 
his public career ; but it never once hints that he was bishop 
of Jerusalem. The James who has left behind him an epistle 
addressed " to the twelve tribes scattered abroad," and who by 
some has been identified as our Lord's brother, makes no 
allusion to his possession of any such office. Paul, who often 
visited the mother Church during the time of this alleged 

1 Acts xv. 6. 

a Acts xv. 19. "James, according to the somewhat pompous rendering in 
our English version, says, 'Wherefore my sentence is' — in the original — 
61b r/j Kptvu — a common formula by which the members of the Greek as- 
semblies introduced the expression of their individual opinion, as appears 
from its repeated occurrence in Thucydides, with which may be compared 
the corresponding Latin phrase {sic censeo) of frequent use in Cicero's 
orations." — Alexander on the Acts, ii., p. 83. 



WHY JAMES WAS SETTLED AT JERUSALEM. 23 1 

episcopate, is equally silent upon the subject. But it is easy 
to understand how the story originated. The command to 
the apostles, " Go ye unto all the world and preach the Gospel 
to every creature," J did not imply that their countrymen at 
home were not to enjoy a portion of their ministrations ; and 
it may have been considered expedient that a minister of 
great weight of character should reside in the Jewish capital. 
This field of exertion may have been assigned to James, the 
brother of John. Others travelled to distant countries, to 
disseminate the truth ; and as after the martyrdom mentioned 
in Acts xii. 2, James, the Lord's brother, was probably the 
most influential individual who could ordinarify be consulted 
in the holy city, he soon became the ruling spirit among the 
Christians of that crowded metropolis. In all cases of im- 
portance and of difficulty his advice was sought and appreci- 
ated ; and his age, experience, and rank as the near relative of 
our Lord, 2 suggested the propriety of his appointment as 
president of any ecclesiastical meeting he attended. The 
precedence thus so generally conceded to him was remember- 
ed in after-times when the hierarchical spirit began to domi- 
nate ; and afforded a basis for the legend that he was the first 
bishop of Jerusalem. And as he commonly occupied the 
chair when the rulers of the Church assembled there at the 
annual festivals, we see too why he is also called " bishop of 
bishops " in documents of high antiquity. 3 

During a considerable part of the first century Jerusalem 
contained a much greater number of disciples than any other 
city in the Roman Empire ; and until shortly before its de- 
struction by Titus in A.D. 70, it continued to be the centre of 
Christian influence. For some time all matters in dispute 

1 Mark xvi. 1 5. 

2 The James, who is called an apostle, who in after-times was represented 
as the first bishop of Jerusalem, and who in Galatians i. 19 is styled " the 
Lord's brother," was probably not one of the Twelve. His conversion ap- 
pears to have taken place about the time of the resurrection. See before 
P- 33- 

3 See the spurious epistle of Clement to James, prefixed to the Clemen- 
tine Homilies. Cotelerius, " Pat. Apost.," vol. i., p. 617. 



232 ASSEMBLY OF ELDERS AT MILETUS. 

throughout the Church, which could not be settled by inferior 
judicatories, were decided by the apostles and elders there 
convened. But the rapid propagation of Christianity, the 
rise of persecution, and the progress of political events, soon 
rendered such procedure inconvenient, if not impracticable. 
Persons of Gentile extraction in distant lands, and in humble 
circumstances, could not be expected to travel for redress of 
their ecclesiastical grievances to the ancient capital of Pales- 
tine; and, when the temple was destroyed, the myriads who 
had formerly repaired to it to celebrate the sacred feasts dis- 
continued their attendance. The Christian communities 
throughout the Empire about this period began to assume 
that form which they present in the following century, the 
congregations of each province associating together for their 
better government and discipline. There are not wanting 
evidences, as we shall now endeavor to show, that the apostles 
themselves suggested the arrangement. 

It has been taken for granted by many that when Paul, 
on his arrival at Miletus, " sent to Ephesus and called the 
elders of the Church," ' he convoked a meeting only of the 
ecclesiastical rulers of the chief city of the Proconsular Asia. 
But a more attentive examination of the passage in which the 
transaction is described may lead us to infer that the Chris- 
tian elders of the surrounding district, as well as of the cap- 
ital, were requested to meet him at Miletus. Such a conclu- 
sion is sustained by the reason assigned for his mode of 
proceeding at this juncture. Ephesus was a seaport thirty 
miles from Miletus, and he did not touch at it/ " because he 
would not spend the time in Asia, for he hasted, if it were pos- 
sible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost." 2 
But, had he merely wished to see the elders of this provincial 
metropolis, his visit to it need have created no delay, for he 
might have gone to it as quickly as the messenger who was 
the bearer of his communication. He felt, however, that, had 
he appeared there, he would have given offence had he not 
also favored the Christian communities in its neighborhood 

1 Acts xx. 17. 2 Acts xx. 16. 



CONSOCIATION OF PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. 233 

with his presence ; and as he could not afford to stop so long 
in Asia, he adopted the expedient of inviting all the elders of 
the district to repair to the place where he now sojourned. 1 
From Ephesus, the capital, his invitation could be readily 
transmitted to other provincial cities. The address which he 
delivered to the assembled elders conveys the impression that 
they did not all belong to the metropolis, and its very first 
sentence suggests such an inference. " When they were come 
to him, he said unto them, Ye know from the first day that I 
came into Asia after what manner I have been with you at all 
seasons." a The evangelist informs us that he had spent only 
two years and three months at Ephesus, 3 and yet he here tells 
his audience that " by the space of three years" he had not 
ceased to warn every one night and day with tears. 4 He says 
also, " I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching 
the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more " 5 — thereby 
intimating that his auditors were not resident in one locality. 
We have also distinct evidence that when Paul formerly min- 
istered at Ephesus, there were Christian societies throughout 
the province, for in his First Epistle to the Corinthians written 
from that city, 6 he sends his correspondents the salutations of 
" the Churches of Asia." 7 These Churches must have been 
united by the ties of Christian fellowship ; and the apostle 
was in close communication with them when he was thus em- 
ployed as the medium of conveyance for the expression of 
their evangelical attachment. • 

In other parts of the New Testament there are traces of 
consociation among the primitive Churches. Thus Paul, their 
founder, sends to " the Churches of Galatia " 8 a common letter 
in which he requires them to "serve one another," 9 and to 

1 The view here taken is corroborated by the authority of Irenseus, ill., c. 
14, § 2 : " In Mileto enim convocatis episcopis et presbyteris, qui erant ab 
Epheso, et a reliquis proximis czvitatibus," etc. 

2 Acts xx. 18. 3 Acts xix. 8, 10. 4 Acts xx. 31. 

5 Acts xx. 25. Demetrius says to the craftsmen : " Ye see and hear that 
not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath per- 
suaded and turned away much people." Acts xix. 26. 

6 See Period i., sec. i„ chap, viii., p. 109. 7 1 Cor. xvi. 19. 
8 Gal. i. 2. 9 Gal. v. 13. 



234 INTERCOURSE BETWEEN DISTANT CHURCHES. 

"bear one another's burdens." 1 Without some species of 
united action, the Galatians could not well have obeyed such 
admonitions. Peter also, when writing to the disciples " scat- 
tered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithy- 
nia," 2 represents them as an associated body. " The elders/' 
says he, " which are among you I exhort, who am also an 
elder .... feed the flock of God which is among you, taking 
the oversight thereof." 3 This " flock of God," which was 
evidently equivalent to the " Church of God," 4 was spread 
over a large territory ; and yet the apostle suggests that the 
elders were conjointly charged with its supervision. Had the 
Churches scattered throughout so many provinces been a 
multitude of independent congregations, Peter would not 
have described them as one " flock" of which these rulers had 
the oversight. 

But, though the elders of congregations in adjoining prov- 
inces could maintain ecclesiastical intercourse, and meet at 
least occasionally or by delegates, it was otherwise with 
Churches in different countries. Even these, however, culti- 
vated the communion of saints ; for they corresponded with 
each other by letters or deputations. The attentive reader of 
the inspired epistles may observe how the apostles contrived 
to keep open a door of access to their converts by means of 
itinerating preachers ; 5 and the same agency was continued in 
succeeding generations. Disciples travelling into strange 
lands were furnished with " epistles of commendation " 6 to 

1 Gal. vi. 2. 2 i Pet. i. i. 3 I Pet. v. I, 2. 

4 In Acts xx. 28, these designations are identical. The exhortation in 1 
Pet. v. 5 — "Yea, all of you be subject one to another" — is obviously ad- 
dressed to ministers, and implies their mutual subordination. This com- 
mand can be acted upon only by ministers who are confederated and who 
hold the same ecclesiastical status. Lachmann adopts a somewhat differ- 
ent reading of this verse without changing the sense,- for he puts a semi- 
period after h'/lif/oic. According to his Larger Edition of the Greek Testa- 
ment, the commencement of the verse should be rendered thus : " Likewise 
ye younger (presbyters) submit yourselves unto the elder, AND ALL TO 
ONE ANOTHER." I here suppose presbyters to be understood, as the apos- 
tle is speaking to them in all the preceding part of the chapter. 

5 2 Cor. viii. 5, 18, 22 ; Phil. ii. 25, 28 ; Col. iv. 7-9 ; 2 Tim. iv. 9-12. 

6 2 Cor. iii. 1. 



LETTERS OF COMMENDATION. 235 

the foreign Churches ; and Christian teachers, who had these 
credentials, were permitted freely to officiate in the congrega- 
tions which they visited. During the lives of the apostles, 
there were preachers, in whom they had no confidence, who 
were yet in full standing, and who went from place to place 
addressing apostolic Churches. Having found their way into 
the ministry in a particular locality, they set out to other 
regions provided with their " letters of commendation "; and, 
on the strength of these testimonials, were readily recognized 
as heralds of the cross. The apostles deemed it prudent to 
advise their correspondents not to rest satisfied with the cer- 
tificates of these itinerant evangelists, but to try them by a 
more certain standard. " If there come any unto you," says 
John, " and bring not this doctri?ie y receive him not into your 
house, neither bid him God-speed." * — " Beloved, believe not 
every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God, be- 
cause many false prophets are gone out into the world." a 
Strange as it may appear, even some of the apostles had per- 
sonal enemies among the primitive preachers, and yet when 
these proclaimed the truth, they were suffered to proceed 
without interruption. " Some indeed," says Paul, " preach 
Christ even of envy and strife ; and some also of good-will. 
The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing 
to add affliction to my bonds ; but the other of love, knowing 
that I am set for the defence of the Gospel. What then ? 
notwithstanding every way, whether in pretence or in truth, 
Christ is preached ; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will 
rejoice." 3 

The preceding statements enable us to appreciate the unity 
of the Apostolic Church. This unity was not perfect ; for 
there were false brethren who stirred up strife, and false teach- 
ers who fomented divisions. But these elements of discord 
no more disturbed the general unity of the Church than the 
presence of a few empty or blasted ears of corn affects the 
productiveness of an abundant harvest. As a body, the disci- 
ples of Christ were never so united as in the first century. 

1 2 John 10. 2 1 John iv. 1. s Phil. i. 15-18. 



236 UNITY OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 

Heresy had yet made little impression ; schism was scarcely 
known ; and chanty, exerting her gentle influence with the 
brotherhood, found it comparatively easy to keep the unity of 
the spirit in the bond of peace. The members of the Church 
had " one Lord, one faith, one baptism." But their unity was 
very different from uniformity. They had no canonical hours, 
no clerical costume, no liturgies. The prayers of ministers 
and people varied according to circumstances, and were dic- 
tated by their hopes and fears, their wants and sympathies. 
When they met for worship, the devotional exercises were 
conducted in a language intelligible to all ; when the Script- 
ures were read in their assemblies, every one heard in his own 
tongue the wonderful works of God. The unity of the Apos- 
tolic Church did not consist in its subordination to any one 
visible head or supreme pontiff ; for neither Peter nor Paul, 
nor James nor John pretended to be the governor of the 
household of faith. Its unity was not like the unity of a jail 
where all the prisoners wear the same dress, and receive the 
same rations, and dwell in cells of the same construction, and 
submit to the orders of the same keeper ; but like the unity 
of a cluster of stalks of corn, all springing from one prolific 
grain, and all rich with a golden produce. Or it may be 
likened to the unity of the ocean, where all the parts are not 
of the same depth, or the same color, or the same tempera- 
ture ; but where all, pervaded by the same saline preservative, 
ebb and flow according to the same heavenly laws, and concur 
in bearing to the ends of the earth the blessings of civilization 
and of happiness. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE ANGELS OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 

THE Apocalypse is a book of symbols. The light which 
we obtain from it may well remind us of the instruction com- 
municated to the Israelites by the ceremonies of the law. 
The Mosaic institutions imparted to a Jew the knowledge of 
an atonement and a Saviour ; but he could scarcely have un- 
dertaken to explain, with accuracy and precision, their indi- 
vidual significance, as their meaning was not fully developed 
until the times of the Messiah. So is it with " the Revelation 
of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his 
servants things which must shortly come to pass," and which 
" he sent and signifid by his angel unto his servant John." l The 
Church here sees as " through a glass darkly," the transac- 
tions of her future history ; and she can here distinctly dis- 
cern the ultimate triumph of her principles, so that, in days 
of adversity, she is encouraged and sustained ; but she can not 
speak with confidence of the import of much of this mysteri- 
ous record ; and it would seem as if the actual occurrence of 
the events foretold were to supply the only safe key for the 
interpretation of some of its strange imagery. 

In the beginning of this book we have an account of a glo- 
rious vision presented to the beloved disciple. He was in- 
structed to write down what he saw, and to send it to the 
Seven Churches in Asia, " unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, 
and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and 
unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea." 2 A vision so extra- 
ordinary as that which he describes, must have left upon his 

1 Rev. i. i. 1 Rev. i. 11. 

(237) 



238 ANGELS OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 

mind a permanent and most vivid impression. " I saw," says 
he, "seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven 
candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man clothed with a gar- 
ment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden 
girdle. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white 
as snow ; and his eyes were as a flame of fire ; and his feet like 
unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace ; and his voice 
as the sound of many waters — and he had in his right hand 
seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged 
sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his 
strength." ' 

In the foreground of this picture the Son of God stands 
conspicuous. His dress corresponds to that of the Jewish 
high-priest, and the whole description of His person has 
obviously a reference, either to His own divine perfections, 
or to His offices as the Saviour of sinners. He himself is the 
expositor of two of the most remarkable of the symbols. 
" The seven stars," says He, " are the angels of the Seven 
Churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest, are 
the Seven Churches." 3 

But though the symbol of the stars has been thus inter- 
preted by Christ, the interpretation itself has been the sub- 
ject of considerable discussion. Much difficulty has been ex- 
perienced in identifying the angels of the Seven Churches ; 
and there have been various conjectures as to the station 
which they occupied, and the duties which they performed. 
According to some they were literally angelic beings who had 
the special charge of the Seven Churches. 3 According to 
others, the angel of a Church betokens the collective body of 
ministers connected with the society. But such explanations 
are very far from satisfactory. * T The Scriptures nowhere teach 
that each Christian community is under the care of its own 
angelic guardian ; neither is it to be supposed that an angel 

1 Rev. i. 12-16. s Rev. i. 20. 

3 This was the opinion of Gregory Nazianzen, as well as others. There 
is an ingenious article on this subject in the Bibliotheca Sacra for April, 
1855. Its author, the Rev. Isaac Jennings, advocates the view propounded 
in this chapter. 



ANGELS OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 239 

represents the ministry of a Church, for one symbol would 
not be interpreted by another symbol of dubious signification. 
It is clear that the angel of the Church is a single individual, 
and a personage well known to the body with which he was 
connected at the time when the Apocalypse was written. 

It has often been asserted that the title " The angel of the 
Church " is borrowed from the designation of one of the min- 
isters of the synagogue. 1 This point, however, has never been 
fairly demonstrated. In later times there was, no doubt, in 
the synagogue an individual known by the name of the legate, 
or the angel ; but there is no decisive evidence that an official 
with such a designation existed in the first century. In the 
New Testament we have repeated references to the office- 
bearers of the synagogue ; we are told of the rulers 2 or elders, 
the reader, 3 and the minister* or deacon; but the angel is 
never mentioned. Philo and Josephus are equally silent 
upon the subject. It is, therefore, extremely doubtful whether 
a minister with this title was known among the Jews in the 
days of the apostles. 

Even granting, what is so very problematical, that there 
were in the synagogues in the first century individuals distin- 
guished by the designation of angels, it is still exceedingly 
questionable whether the angels of the Seven Churches bor- 
rowed their names from these functionaries. If so, the angel 
of the Church occupied the same position as the angel of the 
synagogue, for the adoption of the same title indicated the 
possession of the same office. But it was the duty of the 
angel of the synagogue to offer up the prayers of the assem- 
bly ; 5 and as, in all the synagogues, there was worship at the 
same hour, 6 he could be the minister of only one congrega- 

1 This is the opinion of Prideaux, Vitringa, and many others. See Prid. 
"Connec." part, i., book vi. ; and Vitringa, " De Synagoga," lib. iii., par. 
2, cap. 3. 

2 Acts xiii. 15. 3 Luke iv, 16. 4 Luke iv. 20. 

5 Prideaux, part i., book vi., vol. i., p. 385. Edit. London, 17 16. 

6 " The hours of public devotions in them on their synagogue days were, 
as to morning and evening prayers, the same hours in which the morning 
and evening sacrifices were offered up at the temple." — Prideaux, part i., 
book vi. 



24O ANGELS OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 

tion. If, then, the angel of the Church discharged the same 
functions as the angel of the synagogue, it follows that, to- 
ward the termination of the first century, there was only one 
Christian congregation in each of the seven cities of Ephesus, 
Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Lao- 
dicea. It may, however, be fairly questioned whether the 
number of disciples in every one of these places was then so 
limited as such an inference suggests. In Laodicea, and in 
one or two of the other cities, 1 there may have been only a 
single congregation ; but it is scarcely probable that all the 
brethren in Ephesus still met together in one assembly. 
About forty years before, the Word of God "grew mightily 
and prevailed " 2 in that great metropolis ; and, among its in- 
habitants, Paul had persuaded " much people " 3 to become 
disciples of Christ. But if the angel of the Church derived 
his title from the angel of the synagogue, and if the position 
of these two functionaries was the same, we are shut up to 
the conclusion that there was now only one congregation in 
the capital of the Proconsular Asia. The angel could not be 
in two places at the same time ; and, as it was his duty to 
offer up the prayers of the assembled worshippers, it was im- 
possible for him to minister to two congregations. 

These considerations abundantly attest the futility of the 
imagination • that the angel of the Church was a diocesan 
bishop. The office of the angel of the synagogue had, in 
fact, no resemblance whatever to that of a prelate. The rank 
of the ancient Jewish functionary was similar to that of a 
precentor in some of our Protestant churches ; and when set 
forms of prayer were introduced among the Israelites, it was 
his duty to read them aloud in the congregation. The angel 
was not the chief ruler of the synagogue ; he occupied a sub- 
ordinate position ; and was amenable to the authority of the 

1 Maurice in his work on Diocesan Episcopacy in reply to Clarkson, 
admits (p. 257) that in our Saviour's time, Laodicea had " but few inhabi- 
tants." Philadelphia is described by Strabo, as a place with a small pop- 
ulation. 

2 Acts xix. 20. 3 Acts xix. 26. 



ANGELS OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 24I 

bench of elders. 1 It is in vain, then, to attempt to recognize 
the predecessors of our modern diocesans in the angels of the 
Seven Churches. Had bishops been originally called angels, 
they never would have parted with so complimentary a desig- 
nation. Had the Spirit of God in the Apocalypse bestowed 
upon them such a title, it never would have been laid aside. 
When, about a century after this period, we begin to discover 
distinct traces of a hierarchy, an extreme anxiety is discernible 
to find for it something like a footing in the days of the apos- 
tles ; but, strange to say, the earliest prelates of whom we 
read are not known by the name of angels. 2 If such a nomen- 
clature existed in the time of the Apostle John, it passed 
away at once and forever ! No trace of it can be detected 
even in the second century. It is thus apparent that, what- 
ever the angels of the Seven Churches may have been, they 
certainly were not diocesan bishops. 

The place where these angels are to be found in the apoca- 
lyptic scene also suggests the fallacy of the interpretation that 
they are the chief pastors of the Seven Churches. The stars 
are seen, not distributed over the seven candlesticks, but col- 
lected together in the hand of Christ. Though the angels are 
in some way related to the Churches, the relation is such that 
they may be separated without inconvenience. What, then, 
can these angels be ? How do they happen to possess the 
name they bear ? Why are they gathered into the right 
hand of the Son of Man? All these questions admit of a 
very plain and satisfactory solution. 

1 Prideaux speaks of the angel of the synagogue, in relation to the rulers, 
as " next to them, or perchance one of them." Part i., book vi., vol. i., p. 385. 

2 It never occurred to Tertullian that the angels of the Churches were 
bishops. He obviously considered the angel of the Church an invisible 
intelligence. Thus he says of Paul, " Lusit igitur et de suo spiritu, et de 
ecclesiae angelo, et de virtute Domini, si quod de consilio eorum pronunci- 
averat rescidit." — De Pudicitia, c. xiv. ad finem. See also Tertullian, " De 
Baptismo," c. vi. Such, too, was the opinion of Origen, " De Principiis," 
lib. L, c. 8, and " De Oratione," 11. The fact that, long after the hierarchy 
was formed, in two or three rare cases a bishop is called an angel, in 
reference to the angels of the Apocalypse, is nothing to the purpose. See 
Bingham, i. 79. 

16 



242 ANGELS OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 

An angel literally signifies a messenger, and these angels 
were simply the messengers of the Seven Churches. John 
had long resided at Ephesus ; and now that he was banished 
to the Isle of Patmos " for the word of God and for the testi- 
mony of Jesus Christ," the Christian communities among 
which he had ministered so many years, sent trusty deputies 
to visit him, to assure him of their sympathy, and to tender 
to him their friendly offices. In primitive times such angels 
were often sent to the brethren in confinement or in exile. 
Thus, Paul, when in imprisonment at Rome, says to the Phi- 
lippians, " Ye have well done that ye did communicate with 

my affliction I am full, having received of Epaphro- 

ditus the things which were sent from you." : Here Epaphro- 
ditus is presented to us as the angel of the Church of Philippi. 
This minister seems, indeed, to have spent no small portion of 
his time in travelling between Rome and Macedonia. Hence 
Paul observes, " I supposed it necessary to send to yon Epaphro- 
ditus, my brother and companion in labor and fellow-soldier, 
but your messenger and he that ministered to my zvants."* In 
like manner, the individuals selected to convey to the poor 
saints in Jerusalem the contributions of the Gentile converts 
in Greece and Asia Minor, are called '" the messengers of the 
Churches." 3 The practice of sending messengers to visit and 
comfort the saints in poverty, in confinement, or in exile, may 
be traced for centuries in the history of the Church ; and, in 
other parts of the New Testament as well as in the Revelation, 
an individual sent on a special errand is repeatedly called an 
angel. Thus, John the Baptist, who was commissioned to an- 
nounce the approach of the Messiah, is styled God's angel, 4 
or messenger, and the spies, sent to view the land of Canaan, 
are distinguished by the same designation. 6 

Toward the close of the first century the Apostle John must 
have been regarded with extraordinary veneration by his Chris- 

1 Phil. iv. 14, 18. 2 Phil. ii. 25. 

3 2 Cor. viii. 23, u^cgtoXol eKKlrjciuv. In after-times it was deemed proper 
that these messengers should be of the clerical order. See Cyprian, epist. 
xxiv., lxxv., and lxxix. 

4 Luke vii. 27, rbv ayyelov ftov. 5 James ii. 25, rovg ayyelovQ. 



ANGELS OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 243 

tian brethren. He was the last survivor of a band of men who 
had laid the foundations of the New Testament Church ; and 
he was himself one of the most honored members of the little 
fraternity, for he had enjoyed peculiarly intimate fellowship 
with his Divine Master. Our Lord, " in the day of his flesh," 
had permitted him to lean upon His bosom ; and he is de- 
scribed by the pen of inspiration as u the disciple whom Jesus 
loved." 1 All accounts concur in representing him as most 
amiable and warm-hearted ; and as he had now far outlived 
the ordinary term of human existence, the snows of age im- 
parted additional interest to a personage otherwise exceedingly 
attractive. Such a man was not permitted in apostolic times 
to pine away unheeded in solitary exile. The small island 
which was the place of his banishment was only a short dis- 
tance from the Asiatic metropolis, and the other six cities 
named in the Apocalypse were all in the same district as 
Ephesus. It was, therefore, by no means extraordinary that 
seven messengers from seven neighboring Churches, to all of 
which he was well known, are found together in Patmos on a 
visit to the venerable confessor. 

This explanation satisfies all the conditions required by the- 
laws of interpretation. Whilst it reveals concern for the 
welfare of John quite in keeping with the benevolent spirit of 
apostolic times, it is also simple and sufficient. In prophetic 
language a star usually signifies a ruler, and the angels sent to 
Patmos were selected from among the elders, or rulers, of the 
Churches with which they were respectively connected ; for, it 
is well known that, at an early period, elders, or presbyters, were 
frequently appointed to act as messengers or commissioners. 2 
We thus understand, too, why the letters are addressed to the 
angels, for in this case they were the official organs of com- 
munication between the apostle and the religious societies 
which they had been deputed to represent. The instructions 

1 John xxi. 7, 20. 

2 Thus Hippolytus speaks of a certain elder, named Hyacinthus, who was 
sent to the governor of Sardinia with a letter for the release of the Christians 
banished there. " Philosophumena," p. 288. The legate of the bishop of 
Rome is a species of memorial of the angel of the ancient Church. 



244 ANGELS OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 

contained in the epistles were designed, not merely for the 
angels individually, but for the communities of which they 
were members ; and hence the exhortation with which each of 
them concludes : " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the 
Spirit saith unto the Churches? 2 When the apostle was hon- 
ored with the vision, he was directed to write out an account 
of what he saw, and to "send it unto the Seven Churches 
which are in Asia "; 2 and this interpretation explains how he 
transmitted the communication ; for, as Christ is said to have 
" sent and signified" His Revelation "by his angel unto his 
servant John,"' 8 so John, in his turn, conveyed it by the seven 
angels to the Seven Churches. It was, no doubt, thought that 
the messengers undertook a most perilous errand when they 
engaged to visit a distinguished Christian minister who had 
been driven into banishment by a jealous tyrant ; but they are 
taught by the vision that they are under the special care of 
Him who is " the Prince of the kings of the earth"; for the 
Saviour appears holding them in His right hand as He walks 
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. When bearing 
consolation to the aged minister, each one of them could en- 
joy the comfort of the promise, "Can a woman forget her 
sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son 
of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget 
thee. Behold, / have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." * 
It has often been thought singular that only seven Churches 
of the Proconsular Asia are here addressed, as it is well known 
that, at this period, there were several other Christian socie- 
ties in the same province. Thus, in the immediate neighbor- 
hood of Laodicea were the Churches of Colosse and Hierapo- 
lis ; 6 and in the vicinity of Ephesus, perhaps the Churches of 
Tralles and Magnesia. But the seven angels mentioned by 
John were perhaps the only ecclesiastical messengers in Pat- 
mos at the time of the vision ; and they may have been the 
organs of communication with a greater number of Churches 
than those which they directly represented. Seven was re- 

'Rev. ii. 7, n, 17, 29, iii. 6, 13, 22. 2 Rev. i. 11. s Rev. i. 1. 

4 Isa. xlix. 15, 16. 

6 The Christians of Hierapolis are mentioned Col. iv. 13. 



ANGELS OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 245 

garded by the Jews as the symbol of perfection ; and it is 
remarkable that, on another occasion noticed in the New Testa- 
ment, 1 exactly seven messengers were deputed by the Churches 
of Greece and Asia Minor to convey their contributions to the 
indigent disciples in Jerusalem. There are, too, grounds for be- 
lieving that these seven religious societies, in their varied char- 
acter and prospects, are emblems of the Church universal. The 
instructions addressed to the disciples in these seven cities of 
Asia were designed for the benefit of " THE CHURCHES " of all 
countries as well as of all succeeding generations ; and the 
whole imagery indicates that the vision is to be thus inter- 
preted. The Son of Man does not confine His care to the 
Seven Churches of Asia, for He who walks in the midst of the 
seven golden candlesticks is the same who said of old to the 
nation of Israel, " I will set up my tabernacle among you, and 
my soul shall not abhor you, and / will walk among you, and 
will be your God, and ye shall be my people." a In the vision, 
the " countenance " of the Saviour is said to have been " as 
the sun shineth in his strength "; 3 and the prayer of the 
Church catholic is : " God be merciful unto us, and bless us, 
and cause his face to shine upon us, that thy way may be known 
upon earth, thy saving health among all nations." 4 

The preceding statements demonstrate the folly of attempt- 
ing to construct a system of ecclesiastical polity from such a 
highly-figurative portion of Scripture as the Apocalypse. In 
the angel of the Church some have discovered the moderator 
of a presbytery ; others, the bishop of a diocese ; and others, 
the minister of an Irvingite congregation. But the basis on 
which all such theories are founded is a mere blunder as to the 
significance of an ecclesiastical title. The angels of the Seven 
Churches were neither moderators, nor diocesans, nor precen- 
tors, but messengers sent on an errand of love to an apostle in 
tribulation. 

1 Acts xx. 4. 2 Lev. xxvi. 11,12. 3 Rev. i. 16. 4 Ps. lxvii. 1, 2, 



PERIOD II. 

FROM THE DEATH OF THE APOSTLE JOHN TO 

THE CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE, 

A.D. 100 TO A.D. 312. 



SECTION I. 

THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH. 

The dawn of the second century was full of promise to the 
Church. On the death of Domitian in A.D. 96, the Roman 
Empire enjoyed for a short time 1 the administration of the 
mild and equitable Nerva. This prince repealed the sanguin- 
ary laws of his predecessor, and the disciples had a respite 
from persecution. Trajan, who succeeded him, 3 and who now 
occupied the throne, was not unwilling to imitate his policy, 
so that, in the beginning of his reign, the Christians had no 
reason to complain of imperial oppression. All accounts con- 
cur in stating that their affairs, at this period, presented a most 
hopeful aspect. They displayed a united front, for they had 
hitherto been almost entirely free from the evils of sectarian- 
ism ; and now that they were relieved from the terrible in- 
cubus of a ruthless tyranny, their spirits were as buoyant as 
ever ; for though intolerance had thinned their ranks, it had 
also exhibited their constancy and stimulated their enthu- 
siasm. Their intense attachment to the evangelical cause 
stood out in strange and impressive contrast with the apathy 
of polytheism. A heathen repeated, not without scepticism, 
the tales of his mythology, and readily passed over from one 
form of superstition to another ; but the Christian felt himself 
strong in the truth, and was prepared to peril all that was 

1 A.D. 96 to A.D. 98. 2 A.D. 98 to A.D. 117. 

(249) 



250 MORALITY OF THE CHRISTIANS. 

dear to him on earth rather than abandon his cherished prin- 
ciples. Well might serious pagans be led to think favorably 
of a creed which fostered such decision and magnanimity. 

The wonderful improvement produced by the Gospel on the 
lives of multitudes by whom it was embraced, was, however, 
its most striking and cogent recommendation. The Christian 
authors who now published works in its defence, to many of 
which they gave the designation of apologies, and who sought, 
by means of these productions, either to correct the misrepre- 
sentations of its enemies, or to check the violence of persecu- 
tion, always appeal with special confidence to this weighty 
testimonial. A veteran profligate converted into a sober and 
exemplary citizen was a witness for the truth v/hose evidence it 
was difficult either to discard or to depreciate. Nor were such 
vouchers rare either in the second or third century. A learned 
minister of the Church could venture to affirm that Christian 
communities were to be found composed of men " reclaimed 
from ten thousand vices" 1 and that these societies, compared 
with others around them, were " as lights in the world." 3 The 
practical excellence of the new faith is attested, still more 
circumstantially, by another of its advocates who wrote about 
half a century after the age of the apostles. " We," says he, 
" who formerly delighted in vicious excesses are now temperate 
and chaste ; we, who once practiced magical arts, have conse- 
crated ourselves to the good and unbegotten God ; we, who 
once prized gain above all things, give even what we have to 
the common use, and share it with such as are in need ; we, 
who once hated and murdered one another, who, on account 
of difference of customs, would have no common hearth with 
strangers, now, since the appearance of Christ, live together 
with them ; we pray for our enemies ; we seek to persuade 
those who hate us without cause to live conformably to the 
goodly precepts of Christ, that they may become partakers 
with us of the joyful hope of blessings from God, the Lord of 
all." 3 When we consider that all the old superstitions had 

1 Origen, * Contra Celsum," i. § 67. See also i. § 26. 

2 Origen, " Contra Celsum," iii. § 29. 

3 Justin Martyr, " Apol." ii. 61. Edit., Paris, 1615. 



TRANSLATIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 25 1 

now become nearly effete, we can not be surprised at the sig- 
nal triumphs of a system which furnished such noble creden- 
tials. 

Whilst Christianity demonstrated its divine virtue by its 
good fruits, it invited all men to study its doctrines and to 
judge for themselves. Those disposed to examine its inter- 
nal evidences were supplied with facilities for pursuing the in- 
vestigation, as the Scriptures of the New Testament were 
publicly read in the assemblies of the faithful, and copies of 
them were diligently multiplied, so that these divine guides 
could be readily consulted by every one who really wished for 
information. The importance of the writings of the apostles 
and evangelists suggested the propriety of making them avail- 
able for the instruction of those ignorant of Greek ; and ver- 
sions in the Latin, the Syriac, and other languages, 1 soon 
made their appearance. Some compositions are stripped of 
their charms when exhibited in translations, as they owe their 
attractiveness to the mere embellishments of style or expres- 
sion ; but the Word of God, like all the works of the High 
and the Holy One, speaks with equal power to every kindred 
and tongue and people. When correctly rendered into an- 
other language, it is still full of grace and truth, of majesty 
and beauty. In whatever dialect it is clothed, it continues to 
awaken the conscience and to convert the soul. Its dissemi- 
nation at this period, either in the original or in translations, 
contributed greatly to the extension of the Church ; and the 
Gospel, issuing from this pure fountain, revealed its superi- 
ority to all the miserable dilutions of superstition and absurd- 
ity presented in the systems of heathenism. 

When accounting for the rapid diffusion of the new faith in 
the second and third centuries, many have laid much stress 

1 The Peshito, or old Syriac version, is supposed to have been made in 
the first half of the second century. — Westcott " On the Canon," pp. 264, 
265. There are traces of the existence of a Latin version in the time of 
Tertullian, or before the close of the second century. — Ibid., p. 275. " Two 
versions into the dialects of Upper and Lower Egypt — the Thebaic (Sahidic) 
and Memphitic — date from the close of the third century." — Ibid., pp. 415, 
416. 



252 DISCONTINUANCE OF MIRACLES. 

on the miraculous powers of the disciples ; but the aid derived 
from this quarter has been greatly over-estimated. The days 
of Christ and His apostles were properly the times of "won- 
ders and mighty deeds "; and though the lives of some, on 
whom extraordinary endowments were conferred, extended 
far into the second century, it is remarkable that the earliest 
ecclesiastical writers are almost, if not altogether, silent on the 
subject of contemporary miracles. 1 Supernatural gifts, per- 
haps, ceased with those on whom they were bestowed by the 
inspired founders of the Church ; 2 but many imagined that 
their continuance was necessary to the credit of the Christian 
cause, and were, therefore, slow to admit that these tokens of 
the divine recognition had completely disappeared. The 
prodigies attributed to this period are very indifferently au- 
thenticated as compared with those reported by the pen of 
inspiration. 3 In some cases they are described in ambiguous 
or general terms, such as the narrators might have been ex- 
pected to employ when detailing vague and uncertain rumors; 
and not a few of the cures dignified with the title of miracles 
are of a commonplace character, such as could have been ac- 
complished without any supernatural interference, and which 

1 See Middleton's " Inquiry," pp. 3, 9. 

2 See Kaye's " Tertullian," pp. 98-101. Edition, Cambridge, 1826. Eu- 
sebius represents Irenasus as showing how, "down to his times, instances 
of divine and miraculous power still existed in some churches." — Ecc. Hist., 
v. 7. 

3 Tertullian states that the Emperor Marcus Aurelius became friendly to 
the Christians, in consequence of a remarkable interposition of Providence 
in favor of his army, in a war with the Marcomanni and the Quadi. It 
was alleged that, in answer to the prayers of a body of Christian soldiers, 
afterward known as the Thundering Legion, the imperial troops were re- 
lieved by rain, whilst a thunder-storm confounded the enemy. It is quite 
certain that the Roman army was rescued from imminent peril by a season- 
able shower ; but it is equally clear that the emperor attributed his deliver- 
ance, not to the God of the Christians, but to Jupiter Pluvius, and that a 
certain section of the Roman soldiers was known long before by the name 
of the Thundering Legion. There is no evidence that Marcus Aurelius 
ever became friendly to the Christians. See Lardner, " Heathen Testi- 
monies," "Works," vii. 176-188. 



SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL. 253 

Jewish and heathen quacks frequently performed. 1 No writer 
of this period asserts that he himself possessed the power 
either of speaking with tongues, 2 or of healing the sick, or of 
raising the dead. 3 Legend began to supply food for popular 
credulity ; and it is a suspicious circumstance that the greater 
number of the miracles which are said to have happened in the 
second and third centuries are recorded for the first time a 
hundred years after the alleged date of their occurrence. 4 
But Christianity derived no substantial advantage from these 
fictitious wonders. Some of them were so frivolous as to ex- 
cite contempt, and others so ridiculous as to afford matter for 
merriment to the more intelligent pagans. 6 

The Gospel had better claims than any furnished by equiv- 
ocal miracles; and, though it still encountered opposition, it 
moved forward in a triumphant career. In some districts it 
produced such an impression that it threatened the speedy 
extinction of the established worship. In Bithynia, early in 
the second century, the temples of the gods were well-nigh 
deserted, and the sacrificial victims found very few purchas- 
ers. 6 The pagan priest took the alarm ; the power of the 
magistrate interposed to prevent the spread of the new doc- 
trine ; and spies were found willing to dog the steps and to 
discover the meeting-places of the converts. Many quailed 

1 See Middleton's " Inquiry," p. 84. Edition, Dublin, 1749. Bishop Kaye 
has remarked that, in the writings of Tertullian, " the only power of the ex- 
ercise of which specific instances are alleged, was that of exorcising evil 
spirits." Kaye's "Tertullian," p. 461. From the symptoms mentioned it 
would appear that the individuals with whom the exorcists succeeded were 
epileptics. 

2 Irenasus, who was not unfavorable to the Montanists, speaks of the gift 
of tongues as possessed by some in his age, and yet he himself, as a mis- 
sionary, was obliged to struggle with the difficulties of a foreign language. 
" Adv. Haeres," v., c. 6, and " Prasf." ad. 1. 

3 When Theophilus of Antioch, toward the end of the second century, 
was invited by Autolycus to point out a single person who had been raised 
from the dead, he did not accept the challenge. See Kaye's " Justin Martyr," 
p. 217. 

4 Middleton's " Inquiry,'' Preface, p. iv. 6 Middleton, pp. 22, 23. 
6 Plinii, " Epist." lib. x. epist. 97. 



254 SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL. 

before the prospect of death, and purchased immunity from 
persecution by again repairing to the altars of idolatry. But, 
notwithstanding all the arts of intimidation and chicanery, 
the good cause continued to prosper. In Rome, in Antioch, 
in Alexandria, and in other great cities, the truth steadily 
gained ground ; and, toward the end of the second century, 
it had acquired such strength even in Carthage — a place far 
removed from the scene of its original proclamation — that, ac- 
cording to the statement of one of its advocates, its adherents 
amounted to a tenth of the inhabitants. 1 About the same 
period Churches were to be found in various parts of the 
north of Africa between Egypt and Carthage ; and, in the 
East, Christianity soon acquired a permanent footing in the 
little State of Edessa, 2 in Arabia, in Parthia, and in India. In 
the West, it continued to extend itself throughout Greece and 
Italy, as well as in Spain and France. In the latter country 
the Churches of Lyons and Vienne attract attention in the 
second century ; and in the third, seven eminent missionaries 
formed congregations in Paris, Tours, Aries, Narbonne, Tou- 
louse, Limoges, and Clermont. 3 Meanwhile the light of di- 
vine truth penetrated into Germany ; and, as the third centu- 
ry advanced, even the rude Goths inhabiting Moesia and 
Thrace were partially brought under its influence. The cir- 
cumstances which led to the conversion of these barbarians 
are remarkable. On the occasion of one of their predatory 
incursions into the Empire, they carried away captive some 
Christian presbyters ; but the parties thus unexpectedly re- 
duced to bondage did not neglect the duties of their spiritual 
calling, and commended their cause so successfully to those 
by whom they were enslaved, that the whole nation eventu- 
ally embraced the Gospel. 4 Even the barriers of the ocean 
did not arrest the progress of the victorious faith. Before the 
end of the second century the religion of the cross had reached 

1 Tertullian, " Ad Scapulam," c. 5. 

2 "Spicilegium Syriacum" by Cureton, p. 31. The correspondence be- 
tween Abgar and our Lord, given by Eusebius, is manifestly spurious. 

3 Gregory of Tours, " Hist. Francorum," lib. i., c. 28. 

4 Sozomen, " Hist. Eccles." ii. 6, and Philostorgius, " Hist. Eccles." ii. 5. 



SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL. 255 

Scotland ; for, though Tertullian certainly speaks rhetorically 
when he says that " the places of Britain inaccessible to the 
Romans were subject to Christ," * his language at least im- 
plies that the message of salvation had already been pro- 
claimed with some measure of encouragement in Caledonia. 

Though no contemporary writer has furnished us with any- 
thing like an ecclesiastical history of this period, it is very 
clear, from occasional hints thrown out by the early apolo- 
gists and controversialists, that the progress of the Church 
was both extensive and rapid. A Christian author, who flour- 
ished about the middle of the second century, asserts that 
there was then " no race of men, whether of barbarians or of 
Greeks, or bearing any other name, either because they lived 
in wagons without fixed habitations, or in tents leading a pas- 
toral life, among whom prayers and thanksgivings were not 
offered up to the Father and Maker of all things through the 
name of the crucified Jesus." 2 Another father, who wrote 
shortly afterward, observes that, " as in the sea there are cer- 
tain habitable and fertile islands with wholesome springs, pro- 
vided with roadsteads and harbors, in which those who are 
overtaken by tempests may find refuge — in like manner has 
God placed in a world tossed by the billows and storms of sin, 
congregations or holy churches, in which, as in insular har- 
bors, the doctrines of truth are sheltered, and to which those 
who desire to be saved, who love the truth, and who wish to 
escape the judgment of God, may repair." 3 These statements 
indicate that the Gospel was soon very widely disseminated. 
Within less than a hundred years after the apostolic age, 
places of Christian worship were to be seen in the chief cities of 
the Empire ; and early in the third century a decision of the 
imperial tribunal awarded to the faithful in the great Western 
metropolis a plot of ground for the erection of one of their 
religious edifices. 4 At length in A.D. 260 the Emperor Gal- 

1 " Adversus Judaeos," c. 7. 

2 Justin Martyr, " Dialogue with Trypho," Opera, p. 345. 

3 Theophilus, "Ad Autolycum," lib. ii. See also Origen, " In Matthaeum," 
Opera, torn, iii., p. 858. 

4 " Life of Alexander Severus," by Lampridius. 



256 GRADUAL ADVANCEMENT OF CHRISTIANITY. 

lienus issued an edict of toleration in their favor; and, during 
the forty years which followed, their numbers so increased 
that the ecclesiastical buildings in which they had hitherto 
assembled were no longer sufficient for their accommodation. 
New and spacious churches now supplanted the old meeting- 
houses, and these more fashionable structures were soon filled 
to overflowing. 1 But the spirit of the world began to be 
largely infused into the Christian communities; the Church 
was distracted by its ministers struggling with each other for 
pre-eminence ; and even the terrible persecution of Diocletian 
which succeeded, could neither quench the ambition, nor ar- 
rest the violence of contending pastors. 

If we stand only for a moment on the beach, we find it im- 
possible to decide whether the tide is ebbing or flowing. But 
if we remain there for a few hours, the question will not re- 
main unsettled. The sea will meanwhile either retire into its 
depths, or compel us to retreat before its advancing waters. 
So it is with the Church. At a given date we may be unable 
to determine whether it is aggressive, stationary, or retrograde. 
But when we compare its circumstances at distant intervals, 
we easily form a judgment. From the first to the fourth cent- 
ury, Christianity moved forward like the flowing tide ; and yet 
its advance, during any one year, was not very perceptible. 
When, however, we contrast its weakness at the death of the 
Apostle John with its strength immediately before the com- 
mencement of the last imperial persecution, we can not but 
acknowledge its amazing progress. At the termination of 
the first century, its adherents were a little flock, thinly scat- 
tered over the Empire. In the reign of Diocletian, such was 
even their numerical importance that no prudent statesman 
would have thought it safe to overlook them in the business 
of legislation. They held military appointments of high re- 
sponsibility ; they were to be found in some of the most hon- 
orable civil offices ; they were admitted to the court of the 
sovereign ; and in not a few cities they constituted a most in- 
fluential section of the population. The wife of Diocletian, 

1 Euseb. viii. 1. 



GRADUAL ADVANCENENT OF CHRISTIANITY. 2 $7 

and his daughter Valeria, are said to have been Christians. 
The Gospel had now passed over the boundaries of the Em- 
pire, and had made conquests among savages, some of whom 
had, perhaps, scarcely ever heard of the majesty of Rome. 
But it did not establish its dominion unopposed, and in tracing 
its annals, we must not neglect to notice the history of its 
persecutions. 



17 



CHAPTER II. 

THE PERSECUTIONS OF THE CHURCH. 

The persecutions of the early Church form an important 
and deeply interesting portion of its history. When its Great 
Author died on the accursed tree, Christianity was baptized 
in blood ; and for several centuries its annals consist largely 
of details of proscription and of suffering. God could have 
introduced the Gospel among men amidst the shouts of ap- 
plauding nations, but " He doeth all things well"; and He 
doubtless saw that the way in which its reign was actually in- 
augurated, was better fitted to exhibit His glory, and to attest 
its excellence. Multitudes, who might otherwise have trifled 
with the great salvation, were led to think of it more serious- 
ly when they saw that it prompted its professors to encounter 
such tremendous sacrifices. As the heathen bystanders gazed 
on the martyrdom of a husband and a master, and as they 
observed the unflinching fortitude with which he endured his 
anguish, they often became deeply pensive. They exclaimed, 
u The man has children, we believe — a wife he has, unques- 
tionably — and yet he is not unnerved by these ties of kindred ; 
he is not turned from his purpose by these claims of affection. 
We must look into the affair — we must get at the bottom of 
it. Be it what it may, it can be no trifle which makes one 
ready to suffer and willing to die for it." 1 The effects pro- 
duced on spectators by the heroism of the Christians can not 
have escaped the notice of the heathen magistrates. The 
Church herself was well aware of the credit she derived from 
these displays of the constancy of her children ; and hence, in 

1 Cyprian, " De Laude Martyrii," Opera, pp. 620, 621. See also Tertul- 
lian, "Ad Scapulam," c. 5, adfinem. 

(258) 



GRACES EXHIBITED IN PERSECUTION. 259 

an address to the persecutors which appeared about the begin- 
ning of the third century, the ardent writer boldly invites 
them to proceed with the work of butchery. " Go on," says 
he tauntingly, " ye good governors, so much better in the 
eyes of the people if ye sacrifice the Christians to them — rack, 
torture, condemn, grind us to powder — our numbers increase 
in proportion as you mow us down. The blood of Christians 
is their harvest-seed — that very obstinacy with which you up- 
braid us, is a teacher. For who is not incited by the contem- 
plation of it to inquire what there is in the core of the matter? 
and who, that has inquired, does not join us ? and who, that 
joins us, does not long to suffer ? " * 

In another point of view, the perils connected with a profes- 
sion of the Gospel exercised a wholesome influence. Compara- 
tively few undecided characters joined the communion of the 
Church ; and thus its members, as a body, displayed much con- 
sistency and steadfastness. The purity of the Christian morali- 
ty was never seen to more advantage than in those days of perse- 
cution, as every one who joined the hated sect was understood 
to possess the spirit of a martyr. And never did the graces 
of the religion of the cross appear in more attractive lustre 
than when its disciples were groaning under the inflictions of 
imperial tyranny. As some plants yield their choicest odors 
only under the influence of pressure, it would seem as if the 
Gospel reserved its richest supplies of patience, strength, and 
consolation for times of trouble and alarm. Piety never more 
decisively asserts its celestial birth than when it stands un- 
blenched under the frown of the persecutor, or calmly awaits 
the shock of death. In the second and third centuries an un- 
believing world often looked on with wonder as the Christians 
submitted to torment rather than renounce their faith. Nor 
were spectators more impressed by the amount of suffering 
sustained by the confessors and the martyrs, than by the 
spirit with which they endured their trials. They approached 
their tortures in no temper of dogged obstinacy or sullen defi- 
ance. They rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer 

1 Tertullian, " Apol." 50. 



260 DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL GRIEVANCES. 

in so good a cause. They manifested a self-possession, a 
meekness of wisdom, a gentleness, and a cheerfulness, at which 
the multitude were amazed. Nor were these proofs of Chris- 
tian magnanimity confined to anyone class of sufferers. Chil- 
dren and delicate females, illiterate artisans and poor slaves, 
sometimes evinced as much intrepidity and decision as hoary- 
headed pastors. The victims of intolerance were upheld by a 
power which was divine, and of which philosophy could give 
no explanation. 

We form a most inadequate estimate of the trials of the 
early Christians, if we take into account only those sufferings 
they endured from the hands of the pagan magistrates. Cir- 
cumstances which seldom came under the eye of public ob- 
servation not unfrequently kept them for life in a state of 
disquietude. Idolatry was so interwoven with the very text- 
ure of society that the adoption of the new faith sometimes 
abruptly deprived an individual of the means of subsistence. 
If he was a statuary, he could no longer employ himself in 
carving images of the gods ; if a painter, he could no more 
expend his skill in decorating the high places of superstition. 
To earn a livelihood, he must either seek out a new sphere 
for the exercise of his art, or betake himself to some new oc- 
cupation. The Christian, if a merchant, was, to a great ex- 
tent, at the mercy of those with whom he transacted business. 
When his property passed into the hands of dishonest heathens, 
he was often unable to recover it, as the pagan oaths admin- 
istered in the courts of justice prevented him from appealing 
for redress to the laws of the Empire. 1 Were he placed in 
circumstances which enabled him to surmount this difficulty, 
he could not afford to exasperate his debtors ; as they might 
have so easily retaliated by accusing him of Christianity. The 
wealthy disciple durst not accept the office of a magistrate, 
for he would have thus only betrayed his creed ; neither 
could he venture to aspire to any of the honors of the State, 
as his promotion must have aggravated the perils of his posi- 
tion. Our Saviour had said, " I am come to set a man at va- 

1 Tertullian, "De Idololatria," c. 17. 



ROMAN TOLERATION. 26l 

riance against his father, and the daughter against her moth- 
er, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law ; and a 
man's foes shall be they of his own household." 1 These words 
were now verified with such woful accuracy that the distrust 
pervading the domestic circle often embittered the whole life 
of the believer. The slave informed against his Christian 
master ; the husband divorced his Christian wife ; and chil- 
dren who embraced the Gospel were sometimes disinherited 
by their enraged parents. 2 As the followers of the cross con- 
templated the hardships which beset them on every side, well 
might they have exclaimed in the words of the apostle, " If 
in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men 
most miserable." 3 

In the first century the very helplessness of the Church 
served partially to protect it from persecution. Its adherents 
were then almost all in very humble circumstances ; and their 
numbers were not such as to inspire the sovereign with any 
political anxiety. When they were harassed by the unbeliev- 
ing Jews, the civil magistrate sometimes interposed, and 
spread over them the shield of toleration ; and though Nero 
and Domitian were their persecutors, the treatment they ex- 
perienced from two princes so generally abhorred for cruelty 
elicited a measure of public sympathy. 4 At length, however, 
the Roman government, even when administered by sov- 
ereigns noted for political virtues, began to assume an attitude 
of decided opposition ; and, for many generations, the disciples 
were constantly exposed to the hostility of their pagan rulers. 

The Romans acted so far upon the principle of toleration 
as to permit the various nations reduced under their dominion 
to adhere to whatever religion they had previously professed. 
They were led to pursue this policy by the combined dictates 
of expediency and superstition ; for they knew that they more 
easily preserved their conquests by granting indulgence to the 
vanquished, and they believed that each country had its own 

1 Matt. x. 35, 36. 

2 Tertullian, " Apol." c. 3, and ''Ad Nationes," i. § 4. 8 1 Cor. xv. 19. 
4 The Christians long gloried in the fact that Nero was their first perse- 
cutor. See Tertullian, " Apol." c. 5. 



262 PERSECUTION IN BITHYNIA. 

tutelary guardians. But they looked with the utmost sus- 
picion on all new systems of religion. Such novelties, they 
conceived, were connected with designs against the State ; and 
should, therefore, be sternly discountenanced. Hence it was 
that Christianity so soon met with opposition from the im- 
perial government. For a time it was confounded with Juda- 
ism, and, as such, was regarded as entitled to the protection 
of the laws ; but when its true character was ascertained, the 
disciples were involved in all the penalties attached to the ad- 
herents of an unlicensed worship. 

Very early in the second century the power of the State 
was turned against the Gospel. About A. D. 107, the far-famed 
Ignatius, the pastor of Antioch, suffered martyrdom. Soon 
afterward our attention is directed to the unhappy condition 
of the Church by a correspondence between the celebrated 
Pliny and the Emperor Trajan. In Bithynia, of which Pliny 
was governor, the new faith was rapidly spreading ; and those 
who derived their subsistence from the maintenance of super- 
stition, had taken the alarm. The proconsul had, therefore, 
been importuned to commence a persecution ; and as exist- 
ing statutes supplied him with no very definite instructions 
respecting the method of procedure, he deemed it necessary 
to seek directions from his imperial master. He stated, at 
the same time, the course he had hitherto pursued. If indi- 
viduals arraigned before his judgment-seat, and accused of 
Christianity, refused to repudiate the obnoxious creed, they 
were condemned to death ; but if they abjured the Gospel, 
they were permitted to escape unscathed. Trajan approved 
of this policy, and it now became the law of the Empire. 

In his letter to his sovereign 1 Pliny has given a very favor- 
able account of the Christian morality, and has virtually ad- 
mitted that the new religion was admirably fitted to promote 
fhe good of the community. He mentions that the members 
of the Church were bound by solemn obligations to abstain 
from theft, robbery, and adultery ; to keep their promises, and 
to avoid every form of wickedness. When such was their ac- 

1 Plinii, "Epist." lib. x„ epist. 97. 



SIMEON OF JERUSALEM. 263 

knowledged character, it may appear extraordinary that a 
sagacious prince and a magistrate of highly-cultivated mind 
concurred in thinking that they should be treated with ex- 
treme rigor. We have here, however, a striking example of 
the military spirit of Roman legislation. The laws of the 
Empire made no proper provision for the rights of conscience ; 
and they were based throughout upon the principle that im- 
plicit obedience is the first duty of a subject. Neither Pliny 
nor Trajan could understand why a Christian did not renounce 
his creed at the bidding of the civil governor. In their esti- 
mation, "inflexible obstinacy" in confessing the Saviour was 
a crime which deserved no less a penalty than death. 

Though the rescript of Trajan awarded capital punishment 
to the man who persisted in acknowledging himself a Chris- 
tian, it also required that the disciples were not to be in- 
quisitively sought after. The zeal of many of the enemies of 
the Church was checked by this provision ; as those who at- 
tempted to hunt down the faithful expressly violated the 
spirit of the imperial enactment. But still some Christians 
suffered the penalty of a good confession. Pliny himself ad- 
mits that individuals brought before his own tribunal, and 
who could not be induced to recant, were capitally punished ; 
and elsewhere the law was not permitted to remain in abey- 
ance. About the close of the reign of Trajan, Simeon, the 
senior minister of Jerusalem, in the hundred and twentieth 
year of his age, fell a victim to its severity. This martyr was, 
probably, the second son of Mary, the mother of our Lord, 
and the same who is enumerated in the Gospels 1 among the 
brethren of Christ ; for the chronology accords with the sup- 

1 Matt. xiii. 55 ; Mark vi. 3. Simon and Simeon are the same. See Acts 
xv. 7, 14. That the mother of our Lord had other children appears, as well 
from the texts quoted, as from Matt. i. 25 ; Mark iii. 31 ; and Luke ii. 7. In 
Scripture, brethren sometimes signify cousins, but Jesus is said to have been 
Mary's "first-born son." His brethren are always found in company with His 
mother, and it is said they " did not believe in him " (John vii. 5), though 
some of His cousins were among the apostles, Gal. i. 19 ; Acts i. 13. The 
superstitious regard for celibacy gave birth to the doctrine of the perpetual 
virginity of Mary. 



264 CLAMORS OF THE MOB. 

position that he was a year younger than our Saviour. 1 His 
relationship to Jesus, his great age, and his personal excel- 
lence secured for him a most influential position in the mother 
Church of Christendom ; and hence, by writers who flourished 
afterward, and who express themselves in the language of 
their generation, he is called the second bishop of Jerusalem. 
Though the rescript of Trajan served for a time to restrain 
the violence of persecution, it pronounced the profession of 
Christianity illegal ; so that doubts, which had hitherto ex- 
isted as to the interpretation of the law, could no longer be 
entertained. The heathen priests, and others interested in 
the support of idolatry, did not neglect to proclaim a fact so 
discouraging to the friends of the Gospel. The law, indeed, 
still presented difficulties, for an accuser who failed to sub- 
stantiate his charge was liable to punishment ; but the wily 
adversaries of the Church soon contrived to evade this 
obstacle. When the people met together on great public 
occasions, as at the celebration of their games or festivals, and 
when the interest in the sports began to flag, attempts were 
often made to provide them with a new and more exciting 
pastime by raising the cry of "The Christians to the Lions"; 
and as, at such times, the magistrates had been long accus- 
tomed to yield to the wishes of the multitude, many of the 
faithful were sacrificed to their clamors. Here, no one was 
obliged to step forward and hold himself responsible for the truth 
of an indictment ; and thus, without incurring any danger, 
personal malice and blind bigotry had free scope for their in- 
dulgence. In the reign of Hadrian, the successor of Trajan, 
the Christians were sadly harassed by these popular ebullitions ; 
and at length Quadratus and Aristides, two eminent members 
of the Church at Athens, presented apologies to the Emperor 
in which they vividly depicted the hardships of their position. 
Serenius Granianus, the Proconsul of Asia, also complained to 

1 Trajan died A.D. 117, and if Simeon was born a year after Jesus, he en- 
tered upon the 120th year of his age about the close of this Emperor's reign. 
See Greswell's " Dissertations," vol. ii., pp. 127, 128. It was the opinion 
of Tertullian that Mary had other sons after she gave birth to our Lord. 
See Neander's " Antignostikus," and Tertullian, " De Monogamia," c. 8. 



MARCUS AURELIUS. 265 

Hadrian of the proceedings of the mob ; and, in consequence, 
that prince issued a rescript requiring that the magistrates 
should in future refuse to give way to the extempore clamors 
of public meetings. 

Antoninus Pius, who inherited the throne on the demise of 
Hadrian, was a mild sovereign ; and under him the faithful 
enjoyed comparative tranquillity ; but his successor, Marcus 
Aurelius, surnamed the Philosopher, pursued a very different 
policy. Marcus is commonly reputed one of the best of the 
Roman Emperors; at a very early period of life he gave 
promise of uncommon excellence ; and throughout his reign 
he distinguished himself as an able and accomplished mon- 
arch. But he was proud, pedantic, and self-sufficient ; and, 
like every other individual destitute of spiritual enlighten- 
ment, his character presented the most glaring inconsistencies ; 
for he was at once a professed Stoic, and a devout Pagan. 
This prince could not brook the contempt with which the 
Christians treated his philosophy ; neither was he prepared to 
permit them to think for themselves. He could conceive how 
an individual, yielding to the stern law of fate, might meet 
death with unconcern ; but he did not understand how the 
Christians gloried in tribulation, and hailed even martyrdom 
with a song of triumph. Had he calmly reflected on the 
spirit displayed by the witnesses for the truth, he might have 
seerf that they were partakers of a higher wisdom than his 
own ; but the tenacity with which they adhered to their prin- 
ciples, only mortified his self-conceit, and roused his indigna- 
tion. This philosophic Emperor was the most systematic and 
heartless of all the persecutors who had ever yet oppressed 
the Church. When Nero lighted up his gardens with the 
flames which issued from the bodies of the dying Christians, 
he wished to transfer to them the odium of the burning of 
Rome, and he acted only with the caprice and cunning of a 
tyrant ; and when Domitian promulgated his cruel edicts, he 
was haunted with the dread that the proscribed sect would 
raise up a rival sovereign ; but Marcus Aurelius could not 
plead even such miserable apologies. He hated the Christians 
with the cool acerbity of a Stoic ; and he took measures for 



266 JUSTIN MARTYR AND POLYCARP. 

their extirpation which betrayed at once his folly and his 
malevolence. Disregarding the law of Trajan, which required 
that they were not to be officiously sought after, he encouraged 
spies and informers to harass them with accusations. He 
caused them to be dragged before the tribunals of the magis- 
trates ; and, under pain of death, compelled them to conform 
to the rites of idolatry. With a refinement of cruelty un- 
known to his predecessors, he employed torture for the pur- 
pose of forcing them to recant. If, in their agony, they gave 
way, and consented to sacrifice to the gods, they were re- 
leased ; if they remained firm, they were permitted to die in 
torment. In his reign we read of novel and hideous forms of 
punishment — evidently instituted for the purpose of aggra- 
vating pain and terror. The Christians were stretched on the 
rack, and their joints were dislocated ; their bodies, when 
lacerated with scourges, were laid on rough sea-shells, or on 
other most uncomfortable supports ; they were torn to pieces 
by wild beasts, or roasted alive on heated iron chairs. In- 
genuity was called to the ignoble office of inventing modes 
and instruments of torture. 

One of the most distinguished sufferers of this reign was 
Justin, surnamed the Martyr. 1 He was a native of Samaria; 
but he had travelled into various countries, and had studied 
various systems of philosophy, with a view to discover the 
truth. His attention had at length been directed to the 
Scriptures, and in them he had found that satisfaction which 
he did not obtain elsewhere. When in Rome, he came into 
collision with Crescens, a Cynic philosopher, whom he foiled 
in a theological discussion. His unscrupulous antagonist, 
annoyed by this discomfiture, turned informer; and Justin, 
with some others, was put to death. Shortly afterward Poly- 
carp, the aged pastor of Smyrna, was committed to the flames. 9 
This venerable man, who had been acquainted in his youth 

1 The account of the trial of himself and his companions, as given in the 
" Acta Sincera Martyrum," by Ruinart, bears all the marks of truth. 

2 An account of his martyrdom is given in a circular letter of the Church 
of Smyrna. See Jacobson's " Patres Apostolici," torn, ii., p. 542. Euseb, 
iv. 15. 



POLYCARP. 267 

with the Apostle John, had long occupied a high position as 
a prudent, exemplary, and devoted minister. Informations 
were laid against him, and orders were given for his appre- 
hension. At first he endeavored to elude his pursuers ; but 
when he saw that escape was impossible, he surrendered him- 
self a prisoner. After all, he would have been permitted to 
remain unharmed had he consented to renounce the Gospel. 
In the sjght of an immense throng who gloated over the pros- 
pect of his execution, the good old man remained unmoved. 
When called on to curse Christ, he returned the memorable 
answer, " Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He 
has done me nothing but good ; and how could I curse Him, 
my Lord and Saviour?" " I will cast you to the wild beasts," 
said the Proconsul, " if you do not change your mind." 
" Bring the wild beasts hither," replied Polycarp, " for change 
my mind from the better to the worse I will not." " Despise 
you the wild beasts ? " exclaimed the magistrate, " I will sub- 
due your spirit by the flames." " The flames which you 
menace endure but for a time and are soon extinguished," 
calmly rejoined the prisoner, " but there is a fire reserved for 
the wicked, whereof you know not ; the fire of a judgment to 
come and of punishment everlasting." These answers put an 
end to all hope of pardon ; a pile of faggots was speedily col- 
lected, and Polycarp was burned alive. 

Toward the end of the reign of Marcus Aurelius, or about 
A.D. 177, the Churches of Lyons and Vienne 1 in France en- 
dured one of the most horrible persecutions recorded in the 
annals of Christian martyrdom. A dreadful pestilence, some 
years before, had desolated the Empire ; and the pagans were 
impressed with the conviction that the new religion had pro- 
voked the visitation. The mob in various cities became, 
in consequence, exasperated ; and demanded, with loud cries, 
the extirpation of the hated sectaries. In the south of France 
a considerable time elapsed before the ill-will of the multitude 
broke out into open violence. At first the disciples in Lyons and 
Vienne were insulted in places of public concourse ; then, when 

1 These places are distant from each other about seventeen miles. 



268 CHURCHES OF LYONS AND VIENNE. 

pelted with stones, they shut themselves up in their own 
houses. They were subsequently seized and thrown into 
prison, and afterward their slaves were put to the torture and 
compelled to accuse them of crimes of which they were inno- 
cent. Pothinus, the pastor of Lyons, upwards of ninety years 
of age, was brought before the governor and so roughly 
handled by the populace that he died two days after he 
was thrown into confinement. The other prisoners were 
plied with hunger and thirst, and then put to death with wan- 
ton and studied cruelty. Two of the sufferers — Blandina, a 
female, and Ponticus, a lad of fifteen — displayed singular 
calmness and intrepidity. For several days they were 
obliged to witness the tortures inflicted on their fellow-disci- 
ples, that they might, if possible, be intimidated by the ap- 
palling spectacle. After passing through this ordeal the tort- 
ure was applied to themselves. Ponticus soon sunk under 
his sufferings, but Blandina still survived. When she had sus- 
tained the agony of the heated iron chair, she was put into a 
net and thrown to a wild bull to be trampled and torn by 
him, and she continued to breathe long after she had been 
sadly mangled by the infuriated animal. While subjected to 
these terrible inflictions she exhibited the utmost patience. 
No boasts escaped her lips, no murmurs were uttered by her, 
and even in the paroxysms of her anguish she was full of faith 
and courage. But such touching exhibitions of the spirit of 
the Gospel failed to repress the fury of the excited populace. 
Their hatred of the Gospel was so intense that they resolved 
to deprive the disciples who survived this reign of terror, of 
the melancholy satisfaction of paying the last tribute of re- 
spect to the remains of their martyred brethren. They ac- 
cordingly burned the dead bodies and then cast the ashes into 
the Rhone. " Now," said they, " we shall see whether they 
will rise again, and whether God can help them and deliver 
them out of our hands." * 

Under the brutal and bloody Commodus, the son and heir 
of Marcus Aurelius, the Christians had some repose. Marcia, 

1 Euseb. v. i. 



COMMODUS, PERTINAX, AND JULIAN. 269 

his favorite concubine, was a member of the Church, 1 and her 
influence was successfully exerted in protecting her co-relig- 
ionists. But the penal statutes were still in force, and they 
were not everywhere permitted to remain a dead-letter. In 
this reign 2 we meet with some of the earliest indications of 
that zeal for martyrdom which was properly the spawn of the 
fanaticism of the Montanists. In a certain district of Asia a 
multitude of persons, actuated by this absurd passion, pre- 
sented themselves in a body before the proconsul Arrius An- 
toninus and proclaimed themselves Christians. The sight of 
s^ch a crowd of victims appalled the magistrate ; and, after 
passing judgment on a few, he drove the remainder from his 
tribunal, exclaiming : " Miserable men, if you wish to kill 
yourselves, you have ropes or precipices." 

The reigns of Pertinax and Julian, the Emperors next in 
succession after Commodus, amounted together only to a few 
months, and the faithful had meanwhile to struggle with many 
discouragements ; 3 but these short-lived sovereigns were so much 
occupied with other matters that they had not time for legisla- 
tion on the subject of religion. Septimius Severus, who now ob- 
tained the imperial dignity, was at first not unfriendly to the 
Church ; and a cure performed on him by Proculus, a Chris- 
tian slave, 4 has been assigned as the cause of his forbearance ; 
but, as his reign advanced, he assumed an offensive attitude, 

1 Among the Romans a concubine held a certain legal position, and was 
in fact a wife with inferior privileges. Converted concubines were admitted 
to the communion of the ancient Church. See Bunsen's " Hippolytus," 
iii. 7. 

2 Mosheim (" Commentaries " by Vidal, ii. 52, note) and many others re- 
fer the transaction recorded in the text to the reign of Hadrian, but without 
any good cause. Tertullian, who tells the story (" Ad Scapulam," c. 5), 
evidently alludes to a transaction which had recently occurred. In the 
reign of Commodus there was a proconsul named Arrius Antoninus who 
was put to death. See Lamprid., "Vita Commodi," c. 6, 7. See also 
Kaye's " Tertullian," p. 146, note ; and " Neander's General History," by 
Torrey, i. 162, note. 

3 Clemens Alexandrinus apparently refers to the times immediately fol_ 
lowing the death of Commodus when he says : " Many martyrs are daily 
burned, crucified, and decapitated before our eyes." Strom., lib. ii., p. 414. 

* Tertullian, "Ad Scapulam," c. 4. 



270 THE LIBELLATICt. 

and the disciples suffered considerably under his administra- 
tion. As the Christians were still obliged to meet at night 
to celebrate their worship, they were accused of committing 
unnatural crimes in their nocturnal assemblies ; and though 
these heartless calumnies had been triumphantly refuted fifty 
or sixty years before, they were revived and circulated with 
fresh industry. 1 About this period Leonides, the father of the 
learned Origen, was put to death. By a law promulgated in 
A.D. 202, the Emperor interdicted conversions to Christianity ; 
and, at a time when the Church was making vigorous en- 
croachments on heathenism, this enactment created much 
embarrassment and anxiety. Some of the governors of prov- 
inces, as soon as they ascertained the disposition of the impe- 
rial court, commenced forthwith a persecution ; and there 
were magistrates who proceeded to enforce the laws for the 
base purpose of extorting money from the parties obnoxious 
to their severity. Sometimes individuals and sometimes 
whole congregations purchased immunity from suffering by 
entering into pecuniary contracts with corrupt and avaricious 
rulers, and, by the payment of a certain sum, obtained certi- 
ficates 3 which protected them from all further inquisition.' 
The purport of these documents has been the subject of much 
discussion. According to some they contained a distinct state- 
ment to the effect that those named in them had sacrificed to 
the gods, and had thus satisfied the law ; others allege that, 
though they guaranteed protection, they neither directly 
stated an untruth nor compromised the religious consistency 
of their possessors. The more scrupulous and zealous Chris- 
tians uniformly condemned the use of such certificates. Their 
owners were known by the suspicious designation of " Libel- 
latici," or " the Certified "; and were considered only less crim- 
inal than the " Thurificati," or those who had actually apos- 
tatized by offering incense on the altars of paganism. 4 

Compare Justin Martyr, " Apol.," ii., pp. 70, 71, and " Dial, cum Try- 
phone," p. 227, with Tertullian, " Apol.,'' c. 7. 2 Called libellos. 

3 These parties sometimes appealed to Acts xvii. 9, in justification of their 
conduct. 

4 The sacriftcati, or those who had sacrificed as well as offered incense, 
were considered still more guilty. 



PERPETUA AND FELICITAS. 2? I 

About this time the enforcement of the penal laws in a part 
of North Africa, probably in Carthage, led to a most impres- 
sive display of some of the noblest features of the Christian 
character. Five catechumens, or candidates for baptism, 
among whom were Perpetua and Felicitas, 1 had been put un- 
der arrest. Perpetua, only two and twenty years of age, was 
a lady of rank and of singularly prepossessing appearance. 
Accustomed to all the comforts which wealth can procure, she 
was ill fitted, with a child at the breast, to sustain the rigors 
of confinement, especially as she was thrown into a crowded 
dungeon during the oppressive heat of an African summer. 
But, with her infant in her arms, she cheerfully submitted to 
privations, and the thought that she was persecuted for Christ's 
sake converted her prison into a palace. Her father, a respect- 
able pagan, was overwhelmed with distress because, as he con- 
ceived, she brought deep and lasting disgrace upon her family 
by joining a proscribed sect ; and, as she was his favorite child, 
he employed every expedient which paternal tenderness and 
anxiety could dictate to lead her to a recantation. When 
she was conducted to the judgment-seat with the other pris- 
oners, the aged gentleman appeared there, to try the effect of 
another appeal to her ; and the presiding magistrate, touched 
with pity, entreated her to listen to his arguments, and to 
change her resolution. But, though deeply moved by the 
anguish of her parent, all these attempts to shake her con- 
stancy were in vain. At the place of execution she sung a 
psalm of victory, and, before she expired, exhorted her 
brother and another catechumen, named Rusticus, to con- 
tinue in the faith, to love each other, and to be neither af- 
frighted nor offended by her sufferings. Her companion, 
Felicitas, exhibited quite as illustrious a specimen of Christian 
heroism. When arrested, she was far advanced in pregnancy, 
and during her imprisonment the pains of labor came upon 
her. Her cries arrested the attention of the jailer, who said 

1 " Acta Perpetuae et Felicitatis." The martyrs appear to have been Mon- 
tanists. See Gieseler, by Cunningham, i. 125, note. Tertullian mentions 
Perpetua, and his lariguage countenances the supposition that she was a 
Montanist. " De Anima," c. 55. 



272 PHILIP THE ARABIAN. 

to her, " If your present sufferings are so great, what will you 
do when you are thrown to the wild beasts? You did not 
consider this when you refused to sacrifice." With undaunted 
spirit Felicitas replied, " It is /that suffer now, but then there 
will be Another with me, who will suffer for me, because I 
shall suffer for His sake." The prisoners were condemned to 
be torn by wild beasts on the occasion of an approaching 
festival ; and when they had passed through this terrible or- 
deal, they were dispatched with the sword. 

After the death of Septimius Severus, the Christians experi- 
enced some abatement of their sufferings. Caracalla and 
Elagabalus permitted them to remain almost undisturbed ; 
and Alexander Severus has been supposed by some to have 
been himself a believer. Among the images in his private 
chapel was a representation of Christ, and he was obviously 
convinced that Jesus possessed divine endowments ; but there 
is no proof that he ever accepted unreservedly the New Testa- 
ment revelation. He was simply an eclectic philosopher who 
held that a portion of truth was to be found in each of the 
current systems of religion ; and who undertook to analyze 
them and extract the spiritual treasure. The Emperor Maxi- 
min was less friendly to the Church ; and yet his enmity was 
confined chiefly to those Christian ministers who had been 
favorites with his predecessor ; so that he can not be said to 
have promoted any general persecution. Under Gordian the 
disciples were free from molestation ; and his successor, 
Philip the Arabian, was so well affected to their cause that 
he has been sometimes, though erroneously, represented as 
the first Christian Emperor. 1 The death of this monarch in 
A.D. 249 was, however, soon followed by the fiercest and the 
most extensive persecution under which the faithful had yet 
groaned. The more zealous of the pagans, who had been 
long witnessing with impatience the growth of Christianity, 
had become convinced that, if the old religion were to be up- 
held, a mighty effort must very soon be made to strangle its 

1 See the " Chronicon " of Eusebius, par. ii., adnot, p. 197. Edit. Venet. 
1818. 



THE DECIAN PERSECUTION. 273 

rival. Various expedients were meanwhile employed to 
prejudice the multitude against the Gospel. Every disaster 
which occurred throughout the Empire was attributed to its 
evil influence ; the defeat of a general, the failure of a harvest, 
the overflowing of the Tiber, the desolations of a hurricane, 
and the appearance of a pestilence, were all ascribed to its 
most inauspicious advancement. The public mind was thus 
gradually prepared for measures of extreme severity ; and 
Decius, who now became emperor, aimed at the utter extirpa- 
tion of Christianity. All persons suspected of attachment to 
the Gospel were summoned before the civil authorities ; and if, 
regardless of intimidation, they refused to sacrifice, attempts 
were made to overcome their constancy by torture, by im- 
prisonment, and by starvation. When all such expedients 
failed, the punishment of death was inflicted. Those who 
fled before the day appointed for their appearance in pres- 
ence of the magistrates, forfeited their property ; and were 
forbidden, under the penalty of death, to return to the dis- 
trict. The Church in many places had enjoyed peace for 
thirty years, and meanwhile the tone of Christian principle 
had been considerably lowered. It was not strange, there- 
fore, that, in these perilous days, many apostatized. 1 The 
conduct of not a few of the more opulent Christians of Alex- 
andria has been graphically described by a contemporary. 
" As they were severally called by name, they approached the 
unholy offering ; some, pale and trembling, as if they were 
going, not to sacrifice, but to be sacrificed to the gods ; so 
that they were jeered by the mob who thronged around them, 
as it was plain to all that they were equally afraid to sacrifice 
and to die. Others advanced more briskly, carrying their 

1 The Roman clergy speak of " the remnants and ruined heaps of the 
fallen lying on all sides." Cyp. " Epist." xxxi., p. 99. Cyprian complains 
of " thousands of letters given daily" in behalf of the lapsed by misguided 
confessors and martyrs. "Epist." xiv., p. 59. The writer here probably 
speaks somewhat rhetorically, and evidently does not mean, as some have 
thought, that all these letters were written at Carthage. He speaks of 
what was done " everywhere," including Italy, as well as the cities of 
Africa. " Epist." xiv., xxii., xxvi. 
18 



274 VALERIAN PERSECUTION. 

effrontery so far as to avow that they never had been Chris- 
tians." 1 Multitudes now withdrew into deserts or mountains, 
and there perished with cold and hunger. The prisons were 
everywhere crowded with Christians ; and the magistrates 
were occupied with the odious task of oppressing and de- 
stroying the most meritorious of their fellow-citizens. The 
disciples were sent to labor in the mines, branded on the fore- 
head, subjected to mutilation, and reduced to the lowest 
depth of misery. In this persecution the pastors were treated 
with marked severity, and during its continuance many of 
them suffered martyrdom. Among the most distinguished 
victims were Fabian, bishop of Rome ; Babylas, bishop of An- 
tioch, and Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem. 3 

The reign of Decius was short ; 3 but the hardships of the 
Church did not cease with its termination, as Gallus adopted 
the policy of his predecessor. Though Valerian, the succes- 
sor of Gallus, for a time displayed much moderation, he 
eventually relinquished this pacific course ; and, instigated by 
his favorite, Macrianus, 4 an Egyptian soothsayer, began, about 
A.D. 257, to repeat the bloody tragedy which, in the days of 
Decius, had filled the Empire with such terror and distress. 
At first the pastors were driven into banishment, and the 
disciples forbidden to meet for worship. But more stringent 
measures were soon adopted. An edict appeared announcing 
that bishops, presbyters, and deacons were to be put to death ; 
that senators and knights, if Christians, were to forfeit their 
rank and property ; that, if they still refused to repudiate 
their principles, they were to be capitally punished ; and that 
members of the Church in the service of the palace were to 
be put in chains, and sent to labor on the imperial estates. 5 
In this persecution, Sixtus, bishop of Rome, and Cyprian, 
bishop of Carthage, 6 were martyred. 

1 Dionysius of Alexandria, quoted by Euseb. vi. 41. 

2 Euseb. vi. 39. 

8 A.D. 249 to A.D. 251. 4 Euseb. vii. 10. 

6 Cyprian, Epist. 82, ad Successum. 

• Cyprian, who was much respected personally by the high officers ot 
government at Carthage, was, when taken prisoner, granted as great indul- 



DIOCLETIAN PERSECUTION. 275 

On the accession of Gallienus, in A.D. 260, the Church was 
once more restored to peace. Gallienus, though a person of 
worthless character, was the first Emperor who protected the 
Christians by a formal edict of toleration. He commanded 
that they should not only be permitted to profess their re- 
ligion unmolested, but that they should again be put in pos- 
session of their cemeteries ' and of all other property, either 
in houses or lands, of which they had been deprived during 
the reign of his predecessor. This decree was nearly as ample 
in its provisions as that issued in their favor by the great 
Constantine upwards of half a century afterward. 

But, notwithstanding the advantages secured by this im- 
perial law, the Church still suffered occasionally in particular 
districts. Hostile magistrates might plead that certain edicts 
had not been definitely repealed ; and, calculating on the con- 
nivance of the higher functionaries, could perpetrate acts of 
cruelty and oppression. The Emperor Aurelian had even re- 
solved to resume the barbarous policy of Decius and Valerian ; 
and, in A.D. 275, had actually prepared a sanguinary edict ; 
but, before it was executed, death stepped in to arrest his 
violence, and to prevent the persecution. Thus, as has already 
been intimated, for the last forty years of the third century 
the Christians enjoyed, almost uninterruptedly, the blessings 
of toleration. Spacious edifices, frequented by crowds of 
worshippers, and some of them furnished with sacramental 
vessels of silver or gold, 2 were to be seen in all the great cities 
of the Empire. But, in the beginning of the fourth century, 
the prospect changed. The pagan party beheld with dismay 
the rapid extension of the Church, and resolved to make a 

gence as his circumstances permitted ; but Gibbon, who describes his case 
with special minuteness, most uncandidly represents it as affording an aver- 
age specimen of the style in which condemned Christians were treated^ 
As an evidence of the social position of the bishop of Carthage we may re- 
fer to the testimony of Pontius, his deacon, who states that " numbers of 
eminent and illustrious persons, men of rank and family and secular dis- 
tinction, for the sake of their old friendship with him, urged him many 
times to retire." " Life," § 14. 

1 Euseb. vii. 13. 2 See Bingham, ii., p. 451. 



276 DIOCLETIAN PERSECUTION. 

tremendous effort for its destruction. This faction, pledged 
to the maintenance of idolatry, caused its influence to be felt 
in all political transactions ; and the treatment of the Chris- 
tians once more became a question on which statesmen were 
divided. Diocletian, who was made Emperor in A.D. 285, 
continued for many years afterward to act on the principle of 
toleration ; but at length he was induced, partly by the sug- 
gestions of his own superstitious and jealous temper, and 
partly by the importunities of his son-in-law, Galerius, to 
adopt another course. The persecution commenced in the 
army, where all soldiers refusing to sacrifice forfeited their 
rank, and were dismissed the service. 1 But other hostile 
demonstrations soon followed. In the month of February, 
A.D. 303, the great church of Nicomedia, the city in which the 
Emperor resided, was broken open ; the copies of the Scriptures 
to be found in it were committed to the flames ; and the edi- 
fice itself was demolished. The next day an edict appeared 
interdicting the religious assemblies of the faithful ; com- 
manding the destruction of their places of worship ; ordering 
all their sacred books to be burned ; requiring those who held 
offices of honor and emolument to renounce their principles 
on pain of the forfeiture of their appointments ; declaring 
that disciples in the humbler walks of life, who remained 
steadfast, were to be divested of their rights as citizens and 
freemen ; and enacting that even slaves, so long as they con- 
tinued Christians, were incapable of manumission. 2 Some 
time afterward another edict was promulgated ordaining all 
ecclesiastics to be seized and put in chains. When the jails 
were thus filled with Christian ministers, another edict made 
its appearance, commanding that the prisoners should by all 
means be compelled to sacrifice. At length a fourth edict, of 
a still more sweeping character and extending to the whole 
body of Christians, was published. In accordance with this 
decree proclamation was made throughout the streets of the 
cities ; and men, women, and children were enjoined to repair 

1 "De Mortibus Persec." c. 10. 

9 Euseb. viii. 2 ; " De Mort. Persec." c. 1 3. See also " Neander," by Torrey, 
i. 202, note. 



DIOCLETIAN PERSECUTION. 2J>] 

to the heathen temples. The city gates were guarded that 
none might escape ; and, from lists previously prepared, every 
individual was summoned by name to present himself, and 
join in the performance of the rites of paganism. 1 At a sub- 
sequent period all provisions sold in the markets, in some 
parts of the Empire, were sprinkled with the water or the wine 
employed in idolatrous worship, that the Christians should 
either be compelled to abstinence, or led to defile themselves 
by the use of polluted viands. 2 

Throughout almost the whole Church the latter part of the 
third century was a period of spiritual decay ; and many re- 
turned to heathenism during the sifting time which now fol- 
lowed. Not a few incurred the reproach of their more con- 
sistent and courageous brethren by surrendering the Scriptures 
in their possession ; and those who thus purchased their safety 
were stigmatized with the odious name of traditors. Had the 
persecutors succeeded in burning all the copies of the Word 
of God, they would, without the intervention of a miracle, 
have effectually secured the ruin of the Church ; but their 
efforts to destroy the sacred volume proved abortive ; for the 
faithful seized the earliest opportunity of replacing the con- 
sumed manuscripts. The holy book was prized by them more 
highly than ever, and Bible-burning only gave a stimulus to 
Bible-transcription. Still, however, sacred literature sustained 
a loss of no ordinary magnitude in this wholesale destruction 
of the inspired writings ; and there is not at present in exist- 
ence a single codex of the New Testament of higher antiquity 
than the Diocletian persecution. 3 

It has been computed that a greater number of Christians 
perished under Decius than in all the attacks which had pre- 
viously been made upon them ; but their sufferings under 
Diocletian were still more formidable and disastrous. Pagan- 

1 Eusebius, " Martyrs of Palestine," c. 4. 

2 Eusebius, " Martyrs of Palestine," c. 9. 

3 The Vatican Manuscript, perhaps the oldest in existence, was probably 
written shortly after this persecution. It possesses internal evidences that 
its date is anterior to the middle of the fourth century. See Home, iv. 161, 
10th edition. 



278 DIOCLETIAN PERSECUTION. 

ism felt that it was now engaged in a death struggle ; and this, 
its last effort to maintain its ascendency, was its most pro- 
tracted and desperate conflict. It has been frequently stated 
that the Diocletian persecution was of ten years' duration ; 
and, reckoning from the first indications of hostility to the 
promulgation of an edict of toleration, it may certainly be 
thus estimated ; but all this time the whole Church was not 
groaning under the pressure of the infliction. The Christians 
of the west of Europe suffered comparatively little ; as there 
the Emperor Constantius Chlorus, and afterward his son Con- 
stantine, to a great extent, preserved them from molestation. 
In the East they passed through terrific scenes of suffering ; 
for Galerius and Maximin, the two stern tyrants who governed 
that part of the Empire on the abdication of Diocletian, en- 
deavored to overcome their steadfastness by all the expedients 
which despotic cruelty could suggest. A contemporary, who 
had access to the best sources of information, has given a 
faithful account of the torments they endured. Vinegar 
mixed with salt was poured on the lacerated bodies of the 
dying; some were roasted on huge gridirons; some, suspend- 
ed aloft by one hand, were then left to perish in excruciating 
agony ; and some, bound to parts of different trees which had 
been brought together by machinery, were torn limb from 
limb by the sudden revulsion of the liberated branches. 1 But, 
even in the East, this attempt to overwhelm Christianity was 
not prosecuted from its commencement to its close with un- 
abated severity. Sometimes the sufferers obtained a respite ; 
and again, the work of blood was resumed with fresh vigor. 
Though many were tempted for a season to make a hollow 
profession of paganism, multitudes met every effort to seduce 
them in a spirit of indomitable resolution. At length tyranny 
became weary of its barren office, and the Church obtained 
peace. In A.D. 311, Galerius, languishing under a loathsome 
disease, and hoping to be relieved by the God of the Chris- 
tians, granted them toleration. Maximin subsequently re- 
newed the attacks upon them ; but at his death, which oc- 
curred in A.D. 313, the edict in favor of the Church, which 
Eusebius, viii. 6, 9, 10, 12. 



INTERVALS OF REPOSE. 279 

Constantine and his colleague, Licinius, had already published, 
became law throughout the Empire. 

It is often alleged that the Church, before the conversion of 
Constantine, passed through ten persecutions ; ' but the state- 
ment gives a very incorrect idea of its actual suffering. It is 
more accurate to say that for between two and three hundred 
years the faithful were under the ban of imperial proscription. 
During all this period they were liable to be pounced upon at 
any moment by bigoted, domineering, or greedy magistrates. 
There were not, indeed, ten persecutions conducted with the 
systematic and sanguinary violence exhibited in the times of 
Diocletian or of Decius ; but there were perhaps provinces of 
the Empire where almost every year for upwards of two cent- 
uries some Christians suffered for the faith. 2 The friends of 
the confessors and the martyrs were not slow to acknowledge 
the hand of Providence, as they traced the history of the Em- 
perors by whom the Church was favored or oppressed. It 
was remarked that the disciples were not worn out by the 
barbarities of a continuous line of persecutors ; for an unscru- 
pulous tyrant was often succeeded on the throne by an equita- 
ble or an indulgent sovereign. Thus the Christians had every 
now and then a breathing-time during which their hopes were 
revived and their numbers recruited. It was observed, too, 
that the princes, of whose cruelty they had reason to com- 
plain, generally ended their career under very distressing cir- 
cumstances. An ecclesiastical writer who flourished toward 
the commencement of the fourth century has discussed this 
subject in a special treatise, in which he has left behind him a 
very striking account of " The Deaths of the Persecutors." * 
Their history certainly furnishes a most significant commenta- 
ry on the divine announcement that " the Lord is known by 

1 This idea is as ancient as the clays of Augustine. See his " City of God," 
xviii. 52. 

2 Firmilian refers to a noted persecution, which " did not extend to the 
whole world, but was local." Cyprian, " Epist." lxxv. p. 305. 

3 The treatise " De Mortibus Persecutorum " is generally attributed to 
Lactantius, who flourished in the early part of the fourth century. The au- 
thorship is doubtful. 



280 ORIGIN OF PERSECUTION. 

the judgment which he executeth." ' Nero, the first hostile 
Emperor, perished ignominiously by his own hand. Domitian, 
the next persecutor, was assassinated. Marcus Aurelius died 
a natural death; but, during his reign, the Empire suffered 
dreadfully from pestilence and famine ; and war raged almost 
incessantly from its commencement to its close. The people 
of Lyons, who signalized themselves by their cruelty to the 
Christians, did not escape a righteous retribution ; for about 
twenty years after the martyrdom of Pothinus and his breth- 
ren, the city was pillaged and burned. 2 Septimius Severus 
narrowly escaped murder by the hand of one of his own chil- 
dren. Decius, whose name is associated with an age of mar- 
tyrdom, perished in the Gothic war. Valerian, another op- 
pressor, ended his days in Persia in degrading captivity. The 
Emperor Aurelian was assassinated. Diocletian languished 
for years the victim of various maladies, and is said to have 
abruptly terminated his life by suicide. Galerius, his son-in- 
law, died of a most horrible distemper ; and Maximin took 
away his own life by poison. 3 The interpretation of provi- 
dences is not to be rashly undertaken ; but the record of the 
fate of persecutors forms a most extraordinary chapter in the 
history of man ; and the melancholy circumstances under 
which so many of the enemies of religion have finished their 
career, have sometimes impressed those who have been oth- 
erwise slow to acknowledge the finger of the Almighty. 

The persecutions of the early Church originated partly in 
selfishness and superstition. Idolatry afforded employment to 
tens of thousands of artists and artisans, all of whom had thus 
a direct pecuniary interest in its conservation ; and the ignorant 
rabble, taught to associate Christianity with misfortune, were 
prompted to clamor for its overthrow. Mistaken policy had also 
some share in the sufferings of the Christians ; for statesmen, 
fearing that the disciples in their secret meetings were hatching 

1 Ps. ix. 1 6. 

1 Heroclian, iii. 23. This circumstance, as well as some others here 
stated, is not mentioned in the work " De Mort. Persec." Tertullian men- 
tions some other remarkable facts, " Ad Scapulam," c. 3. 

3 " De Mortib. Persec." c. 49. 



THE DOCTRINE OF TOLERATION. 28 1 

treason, viewed them with suspicion and treated them with 
severity. But another element of at least equal strength con- 
tributed to promote persecution. The pure and spiritual re- 
ligion of the New Testament was distasteful to the human 
heart, and its denunciations of wickedness in every form stir- 
red up the malignity of the licentious and unprincipled. The 
faithful complained that they suffered for neglecting the wor- 
ship of the gods, when philosophers, who derided the services 
of the established ritual, escaped with impunity. 1 But the 
sophists were not likely ever to wage an effective warfare 
against immorality and superstition. Many of themselves 
were persons of worthless character, and their speculations 
were of no practical value. It was otherwise with the Gos- 
pel. Its advocates were in earnest ; and it was quickly per- 
ceived that, if permitted to make way, it would revolution- 
ize society. Hence the bitter opposition which it so soon 
awakened. 

The sore oppression which the Church endured for so many 
generations might have indelibly imprinted on the hearts of 
her children the doctrine of liberty of conscience. As the 
early Christians expostulated with their pagan rulers, they 
often described most eloquently the folly of persecution. 
" How unjust is it," said they, " that freemen should be driv- 
en to sacrifice to the gods, when in all other instances a will- 
ing mind is required as an indispensable qualification for any 
office of religion."' "It appertains to man's proper right 
and natural privilege that each should worship that which he 

thinks to be God Neither is it the part of religion to 

compel men to religion, which ought to be adopted volunta- 
rily, not of compulsion, seeing that sacrifices are required of 
a willing mind. Thus, even if you compel us to sacrifice, you 
render no sacrifice thereby to your gods, for they desire not 
sacrifices from unwilling givers, unless they are contentious ; 
but God is not contentious." 3 When, however, the Church 
obtained possession of the throne of the Empire, she soon ig- 

1 Tertullian, " Apol." c. 46. a Tertullian, " Apol." 28. 

3 Tertullian, " Ad Scapulam," § 2. See also " Lactantius, Instit." v. 20. 



282 THE DOCTRINE OF TOLERATION. 

nored these lessons of toleration ; and, snatching the weapons 
of her tormentors, she attempted, in her turn, to subjugate 
the soul by the dungeon, the sword, and the faggot. For at 
least thirteen centuries after the establishment of Christianity 
by Constantine, it was taken for granted almost everywhere 
that those branded with the odious name of heretics were un- 
worthy the protection of the laws ; and that, though good and 
loyal citizens, they ought to be punished by the civil magis- 
trate. This doctrine, so alien to the spirit of the New Testa- 
ment, has often spread desolation and terror throughout whole 
provinces ; and has led to the deliberate murder of a hundred- 
fold more Christians than were destroyed by pagan Rome. 
Even the fathers of the Reformation did not escape the influ- 
ence of an intolerant training ; but that Bible which they 
brought forth from obscurity has been gradually imparting a 
milder tone to earthly legislation ; and various providences 
have been illustrating the true meaning of the proposition 
that Christ's kingdom is " not of this world." 1 In all free 
countries it is now admitted that the weapons of the Church 
are not carnal, and that the jurisdiction of the magistrate is 
not spiritual. " God alone is Lord of the conscience "; and it 
is only by the illumination of His Word that the monitor 
within can be led to recognize His will and submit to His au- 
thority. 

1 John xviii. 36. 



CHAPTER III. 

FALSE BRETHREN AND FALSE PRINCIPLES IN THE CHURCH. 
SPIRIT AND CHARACTER OF THE CHRISTIANS. 

SOME have an idea that the saintship of the early Christians 
was of a type altogether unique and transcendental. In primi- 
tive times the Spirit was poured out in rich effusion, and the 
subjects of His grace, when contrasted with the heathen around 
them, often exhibited most attractively the beauty of holiness; 
but the same Spirit still dwells in the hearts of the faithful, 
and He is as able, as He ever was, to enlighten and to save. 
As man, wherever he exists, possesses substantially the same 
organic conformation, so the true children of God, to whatever 
generation they belong, have the same divine lineaments. The 
age of miracles has passed away, but the reign of grace con- 
tinues ; and, at the present day, there are among the members 
of the Church as noble examples of vital godliness as in the 
first or second century. 

There was a traitor among the Twelve, and in the Apostolic 
Church there were not a few unworthy members. "Many 
walk," says Paul, " of whom I have told you often, and now 
tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross 
of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, 
and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things." ' 
In the second and third centuries the number of such false 
brethren did not diminish. To those ignorant of its saving 
power, Christianity commends itself, by its external evidences, 
as a revelation from God ; and many, who are not prepared to 
submit to its authority, seek admission to its privileges. The 
superficial character of much of the evangelism current ap- 

1 Phil. iii. 1 8, 19. 

(283) 



284 COVETOUS AND IMMORAL MINISTERS. 

peared in times of persecution ; for, on the first appearance of 
danger, multitudes abjured the Gospel and returned to the 
heathen superstitions. In the third century, the more zealous 
champions of the faith denounced the secularity of many of 
the ministers of the Church. Before the Decian persecution, 
not a few of the bishops were mere worldlings ; and such was 
their zeal for money-making, that they left their parishes neg- 
lected, and travelled to remote districts, where, at certain sea- 
sons of the year, they carried on a profitable traffic. 1 Accord- 
ing to the testimony of the most distinguished ecclesiastics of 
the period, crimes were then perpetrated to which it would be 
difficult to find anything like parallels in the darkest pages of 
the history of modern Christianity. The chief pastor of the 
largest Church in the Proconsular Africa tells, for instance, of 
one of his own presbyters who robbed orphans and defrauded 
widows, who permitted his father to die of hunger and treated 
his pregnant wife with horrid brutality. 2 Another ecclesiastic, 
of still higher position, speaks of three bishops in his neighbor- 
hood who engaged, when intoxicated, in the solemn rite of 
ordination. 3 Such excesses were indignantly condemned by 
all right-hearted disciples, but the fact, that those to whom 
they were imputed were not destitute of partisans, supplies 
clear yet melancholy proof that neither the Christian people 
nor the Christian ministry, even in the third century, possessed 
an unsullied reputation. 

The introduction of a false standard of piety created much 
mischief. It had long been received as a maxim, among cer- 
tain classes of philosophers, that bodily abstinence is necessary 
to those who attain more exalted wisdom ; and the Gentile 
theology, especially in Egypt and the East, had endorsed the 
principle. It was not without advocates among the Jews, as 
is apparent from the discipline of the Essenes and the Thera- 
peutae. At an early period its influence was felt within the 
pale of the Church, and before the termination of the second 

1 Cyprian, " De Lapsis," p. 374. 

9 Cyprian, " Acl Cornelium," epist. xlix., p. 143. Cyprian also charges one 
of his deacons with fraud, extortion, and adultery. Epist. xxxviii., p. 116. 
3 Cornelius of Rome in Euseb. vi. 43. 



THE ASCETICS. 285 

century, individual members here and there eschewed certain 
kinds of food and abstained from marriage. 1 The pagan liter- 
ati, who now joined the disciples in considerable numbers, did 
much to promote the credit of this adulterated Christianity. 
Its votaries, designated ascestics and philosophers? did not with- 
draw themselves from the world ; but, whilst adhering to their 
own regimen, still remained mindful of their social obligations. 
Their self-imposed mortification soon found admirers, and an 
opinion gradually gained ground that these abstinent disciples 
cultivated a higher form of piety. The adherents of the new 
discipline silently increased, and by the middle of the third 
century, a class of females who led a single life, and who, by 
way of distinction, were called virgins, were in some places re- 
garded by the other Church members with special veneration. 3 
Among the clergy also celibacy was considered a mark of 
superior holiness. 4 But, in various places, pietism at this time 
assumed a form which disgusted all persons of sober judgment 
and ordinary discretion. The unmarried clergy and the virgins 
cultivated the communion of saints after a new fashion, alleg- 
ing that, in each other's society, they enjoyed peculiar advan- 
tages for spiritual improvement. It was not uncommon to find 
a single ecclesiastic and one of the sisterhood of virgins dwell- 
ing in the same house and sharing the same bed ! B All the 
while the parties repudiated the imputation of any improper 
intercourse, but in some cases the proofs of guilt were too 
plain to be concealed, and common sense refused to credit the 

1 See Eusebius, v. 3, vi. 9. 

a See Neander's " Antignostikus," part ii., sect, ii., at the end. The Chris- 
tian ascetics adopted the dress of the pagan philosophers. 

3 Cyprian, " De Habitu Virginum," pp. 354, 361. 

4 Still, in the time of Origen, the sons of bishops, presbyters, and deacons 
valued themselves on their parentage. — Origen in " Matthseum," xv. opera, 
torn, iii., p. 690. Even Cyprian bears honorable testimony to certain married 
presbyters. See " Epist." xxxv., p. in. See also " Epist." xviii. p. 67. 
Cyprian himself was indebted for his conversion to an eminent presbyter, 
named Cascilius, who had a wife and children. " Life of Cyprian," by Ponti- 
us the Deacon, § 5. See also Euseb. vi. 42. 

6 Cyprian, "Epist." lxii., p. 219. Concerning the Subintroductce, see also 
the letter relating to Paul of Samosata in Euseb. vii. 30. 



286 RISE OF MONACHISM. 

pretensions of such an absurd and suspicious spiritualism. The 
ecclesiastical authorities felt it necessary to interfere, and com- 
pel the professed virgins and the single clergy to abstain from 
a degree of intimacy which was unquestionably not free from 
the appearance of evil. 

At the time that the advocates of " whatsoever things are 
of good report " were protesting against the improprieties of 
these spiritual brethren and sisters, Paul and Antony, the 
fathers and founders of Monachism, commenced to live as 
hermits. Paul was a native of Egypt, and the heir of a con- 
siderable fortune ; but, driven at first by persecution from the 
abodes of men, he ultimately adopted the desert as the place 
of his residence. Antony, in another part of the same coun- 
try, guided by a mistaken spirit of self-renunciation, divested 
himself of all his property, and also retired into a wilderness. 
The biographies of the two well-meaning but weak-minded 
visionaries, written by two of the most eminent divines of the 
fourth century, 1 are very humiliating memorials of folly and 
fanaticism. These solitaries spent each a long life in a cave, 
macerating the body with fasting, and occupying the mind 
with the reveries of a morbid imagination. -- In an age of grow- 
ing superstition their dreamy pietism was mistaken by many 
for sanctity of uncommon excellence ; and the admiration be- 
stowed on them, tempted others, in the beginning of the fol- 
lowing century, to imitate their example. Soon afterward, 
societies of these sons of the desert were established ; and, in 
the course of a few years, a taste for the monastic life spread, 
like wild-fire, over the whole Church. 

It is a curious fact that the figure of the instrument of tort- 
ure on which our Lord was put to death, occupied a prominent 
place among the symbols of the ancient heathen worship. 
From the most remote antiquity the cross was venerated in 
Egypt and Syria ; it was held in equal honor by the Buddhists 
of the East ; 2 and, what is still more extraordinary, when the 

1 Jerome and Athanasius. 

2 See Medhurst's " China," p. 217. The symbol of the cross was engraved 
on the walls of the temple of Serapis. "When the temple of Serapis was 
torn down and laid bare," says Socrates, " there were found in it, engraven 



SIGN OF THE CROSS. 287 

Spaniards first visited America, the well-known sign was found 
among the objects of worship in the idol temples of Anahuac. 1 
About the commencement of our era, the pagans were wont 
to make the sign of a cross on the forehead in the celebration 
of some of their sacred mysteries. 2 A satisfactory explana- 
tion of the origin of such peculiarities in the ritual of idolatry 
can scarcely be expected ; but it certainly need not excite sur- 
prise if the early Christians were impressed by them, and if 
they viewed them as so many unintentional testimonies to the 
truth of their religion. The disciples displayed, indeed, no 
.little ingenuity in their attempts to discover the figure of a 
cross in almost every object around them. They recognized 
it in the trees and the flowers, in the fishes and the fowls, in 
the sails of a ship and the structure of the human body ; 3 and 

on stones, certain characters, which they call hieroglyphics, having the 
forms of crosses. Both the Christians and Pagans o?i seeing them, thought 
they had reference to their respective religions." " Ecc. Hist.", v. 17. 

1 Prescott, " Conquest of Mexico," iii. 338-340. See also note, p. 340. 
Sir Robert Ker Porter mentions a block of stone found among the ruins of 
Susa, having, on one side, inscriptions in the cuneiform character ; and, on 
another, hieroglyphical figures with a cross in the corner. See his " Travels," 
vol. ii., p. 415. Among the ancient pagans, the cross was the symbol of 
eternal life, or divinity. On medals and monuments of a date far anterior 
to Christianity, it is found in the hands of statues of victory and of figures 
of monarchs. See also Tertullian, "Apol." c. 16. 

2 Tertullian, " De Praescrip. Hasret." c. 40. See also Kaye's Tertullian, 
p. 441. "The ancient world was possessed by a dread of demons, and 
under an anxious apprehension of the influence of charms, sought for ex- 
ternal preservatives against the powers of evil, and accompanied their 
prayers with external signs and gestures." Bunsen's " Hippolytus," iii. 351. 

3 See Justin Martyr, " Dialogue with Trypho," pp. 259, 318, and "Apol." 
ii., p. 90. Tertullian, " Adv. Judaeos," c. 10. In the "Octavius" of Min- 
ucius Felix the following remarkable passage occurs : " What are your 
military ensigns, and banners, and standards, but crosses gilded and orna- 
mented ? Your trophies of victory not only imitate the appearance of a 
cross, but also of a man fixed to it. We discern the sign of a cross in the 
very form of a ship, whether it is wafted along with swelling sails, or glides 
with its oars extended. When a military yoke is erected there is a sign of 
a cross, and, in like manner, when one with hands stretched forth devoutly 
addresses his God. Thus, there seems to be some reason in naticre for it, 
and some reference to it in your own system of religion." The monogram 



288 SIGN OF THE CROSS. 

if they borrowed from their heathen neighbors the custom of 
making a cross on the forehead, they were of course ready to 
maintain that they thus only redeemed the holy sign from 
profanation. Some of them were perhaps prepared, on pru- 
dential grounds, to plead for its introduction. Heathenism 
was a religion of bowings and genuflections ; its votaries were, 
ever and anon, attending to some little rite or form ; and, be- 
cause of the multitude of these diminutive acts of outward 
devotion, its ceremonial was at once frivolous and burdensome. 
When the pagan passed into the Church, he often felt, for a 
time, the awkwardness of the change ; and was frequently on 
the point of repeating, automatically, the gestures of his old 
superstition. It was, therefore, deemed expedient to super- 
sede more objectional forms by something of a Christian com- 
plexion ; and the use of the sign of the cross presented itself 
as an observance equally familiar and convenient. 1 But the 
disciples would have acted more wisely had they boldly dis- 
carded all the puerilities of paganism ; for credulity soon be- 
gan to ascribe supernatural virtue to this vestige of the repu- 
diated worship. As early as the beginning of the third century, 
it was believed to operate like a charm ; and it was accord- 
ingly employed on almost all occasions by many of the Chris- 
tians. " In all our travels and movements," says a writer of 
this period, " as often as we come in or go out, when we put 
on our clothes or our shoes, when we enter the bath or sit 
down at table, when we light our candles, when we go to bed, 
or recline upon a couch, or whatever may be our employment, 
we mark our forehead with the sign of the cross." a / 

X, composed of the initial Greek capitals X and P of the name xP taro G, was 
in use among the heathen long before our era. It is to be found on coins 
of the Ptolemies. Aringhi, " Roma Subterranea," ii., p. 567. 

1 Tertullian maintains ("Ad Jud." c. xi.) that the mark mentioned Ezek. 
ix. 4 was the letter T, or the sign of the cross. See a Dissertation on this 
subject by Vitringa, " Observationes Sacras," lib. ii., c. 15. See also Origen, 
" In Ezechielem," Opera, torn, iii., p. 424, and Cyprian to Demetrianus, § 12. 
It would appear that the worshippers of Apollo used to mark themselves 
on the forehead with the letters XH. See Kitto's " Cyclopaedia of Bib. Lit," 
art. Forehead. 

2 Tertullian, " De Corona," c. 3. By the Romans, crosses were erected 
in conspicuous places to intimidate offenders, just in the same way as the 



IMAGES. 289 

But whilst not a few of the Christians were beginning to 
adopt some of the trivial rites of paganism, they continued 
firmly to protest against its more flagrant corruptions. 
They assailed its gross idolatry with bold and biting sar- 
casms. " Stone, or wood, or silver," said they, " becomes 
a god when man chooses that it should, and dedicates it 
to that end. With how much more truth do dumb ani- 
mals, such as mice, swallows, and kites, judge of your gods? 
They know that your gods feel nothing; they gnaw them, 
they trample and sit on them ; and if you did not drive them 
away, they would make their nests in the very mouth of your 
deity." 1 v The Church of the first three centuries rejected the 
use of images in worship, and no pictorial representations of 
the Saviour were to be found even in the dwellings of the 
Christians. They conceived that such visible memorials con- 
vey no idea whatever of the ineffable glory of the Son of God ; 
and they held that it is the duty of His servants to foster a 
spirit of devotion, not by the contemplation of His material 
form, but by meditating on His holy and divine attributes as 
they are exhibited in creation, providence, and redemption. 
So anxious were they to avoid even the appearance of any- 
thing like image -worship, that when they wished to mark ar- 
ticles of dress or furniture with an index of their religious pro- 
fession, they employed the likeness of an anchor, or a dove, 
or a lamb, or a cross, or some other object of an emblematical 
character. 2 " We must not," said they, " cling to the sensuous, 
but rise to the spiritual. The familiarity of daily sight lowers 
the dignity of the divine, and to pretend to worship a spiritual 
essence through earthly matter, is to degrade that essence to 

drop is now exhibited in the front of a jail. It is not improbable that some 
of these crosses were afterward worshipped by the Christians ! Aringhi 
mentions a stone, to be seen in his own time in the Vatican, which was 
treated with the same absurd reverence. On this stone many of the early 
Christians were said to have suffered martyrdom, probably by decapitation ; 
but it was afterward held "in very great honor" at Rome, and regarded 
as " a sacred thing ! " " Roma Subterranea," i. 219. 

1 Minucius Felix, " Octavius," c. 24. There is a similar passage in Ter- 
tullian, " Apol." c. 12. 

a Clemens Alexandrinus, " Pasdagog." iii., Opera, pp. 246, 247. 
19 



29O CONDEMNATION OF IMAGE-WORSHIP. 

the world of sense." ' Even so late as the beginning of the 
fourth century the practice of displaying paintings in places of 
worship was prohibited by ecclesiastical authority. A canon 
which bears on this subject, and which was enacted by the 
Council of Elvira, held about A.D. 305, is more creditable to 
the pious zeal than to the literary ability of the assembled 
fathers. " We must not," said they, " have pictures in the 
church, lest that which is worshipped and adored be painted 
on the walls." 2 ^ 

It has been objected to the Great Reformation of the six- 
teenth century that it exercised a prejudicial influence on the 
arts of painting and statuary. The same argument was urged 
against the Gospel itself in the days of its original promulga- 
tion. Whilst the early Church entirely discarded the use of 
images in worship, its more zealous members looked with sus- 
picion upon all who assisted in the fabrication of these objects 
of the heathen idolatry. 3 The excuse that the artists were 
laboring for subsistence, and that they had themselves no idea 
of bowing down to the works of their own hands, did not 
satisfy the scruples of their more conscientious brethren. 
" Assuredly," they exclaimed, "you are a worshipper of idols 
when you help to promote their worship. It is true you bring 
to them no outward victim, but you sacrifice to them your 
mind. Your sweat is their drink-offering. You kindle for 
them the light of your skill." 4 

By denouncing image-worship, the early Church to some 
extent interfered with the profits of the painter and the 
sculptor ; but, in another way, it did much to purify and ele- 

1 £lemens Alexandrinus, " Stromat." v., Opera, p. 559. 

2 Canon 36. The comment of the Roman Catholic Dupin upon this 
canon is worthy of note. "To me," says he, " it seems better to under- 
stand it in the plainest sense, and to confess that the Fathers of this Coun- 
cil did not approve the use of images, no more than that of wax candles 
lighted in full daylight." — History of Ecclesiastical Writers, Fourth Cent- 
ury. 

3 Tertullian, " De Pudicitia," c. 7. But all were not so scrupulous, for 
Tertullian elsewhere complains that the image-makers were chosen to 
church offices. " De Idololatria," c. 7. 

4 Tertullian, " De Idololatria," c. 6. 



THE THEATRE AND THE GLADIATORIAL SHOWS. 29 1 

vate the taste of the public. In the second and third centu- 
ries the playhouse in every large town was a centre of attrac- 
tion ; and whilst the actors were generally persons of very 
loose morals, their dramatic performances were perpetually 
pandering to the depraved appetites of the age. It is not, 
therefore, wonderful that all true Christians viewed the theatre 
with disgust. Its frivolity was offensive to their grave tem- 
perament ; they recoiled from its obscenity ; and its constant 
appeals to the gods and goddesses of heathenism outraged 
their religious convictions. 1 In their estimation, the talent 
devoted to its maintenance was miserably prostituted ; and 
whilst every actor was deemed unworthy of ecclesiastical fel- 
lowship, every church member was prohibited, by attendance 
or otherwise, from giving any encouragement to the stage. 
The early Christians were also forbidden to frequent the pub- 
lic shows, as they were considered scenes of temptation and 
pollution. Every one at his baptism was required to renounce 
" the devil, his pomp, and his angels," a — a declaration which 
implied that he was henceforth to absent himself from the 
heathen spectacles. At this time, statesmen, poets, and phi- 
losophers were not ashamed to appear among the crowds who 
assembled to witness the combats of the gladiators, though, 
on such occasions, human life was recklessly sacrificed. But 
here the Church, composed chiefly of the poor of this world, 
was continually giving lessons in humanity to heathen legisla- 
tors and literati. It protested against cruelty, as well to the 
brute creation as to man ; and condemned the taste which de- 
rived gratification from the shedding of the blood either of 
lions or of gladiators. All who sanctioned by their presence 
the sanguinary sports of the amphitheatre, incurred a sentence 
of excommunication. 3 

Though an increasing taste for inactivity and solitude be- 

1 Cyprian, " Ad Donatum, " Opera, p. 5. 

2 Tertullian, "De Spectaculis," c. 4. According to the English Liturgy 
the person baptized " renounces the devil and all his works, the vain pomp 
and glory of the world." This was originally intended to apply to such ex- 
hibitions as those mentioned in the text. 

3 Tertullian, " De Pudicitia," c. 7. Theophilus to Autolycus, book iii. 



292 POLYGAMY. 

tokened the growth of a bastard Christianity, and though 
various other circumstances were indicative of tendencies to 
adulterate religion, either by reducing it to a system of formal- 
ism, or by sublimating it into a life of empty contemplation, 
there were still proofs of the existence of a large amount of 
healthy and vigorous piety. The members of the Church, as a 
body, were distinguished by their exemplary morals ; and 
about the beginning of the third century, one of their advo- 
cates, when pleading for their toleration, could venture to as- 
sert that, among the numberless culprits brought under the 
notice of the magistrates, none were Christians. 1 Wherever 
the Gospel spread, its social influence was most salutary. Its 
first teachers applied themselves discreetly to the redress of 
prevalent abuses; and time gradually demonstrated the ef- 
fectiveness of their plans of reformation. When they appeared, 
polygamy was common ; 2 and had they assailed it in terms of 
unmeasured severity, they might have defeated their own ob- 
ject by rousing up a most formidable and exasperated oppo- 
sition. It would have been argued by the Jews that they were 
reflecting on the patriarchs ; and it would have been said 
by the Roman governors that they were interfering with mat- 
ters which belonged to the province of the civil magistrate. 
They were obliged, therefore, to proceed with extreme cau- 
tion. In the first place, they laid it down as a principle that 
every bishop and deacon must be " the husband of one wife," * 
or, in other words, that no polygamist could hold office in 
their society. They thus, in the most pointed way, inculcated 
sound" views respecting the institution of marriage ; for they 
intimated that whoever was the husband of more than one 
wife was not, in every respect, " a pattern of good works," and 
was consequently unfit for ecclesiastical promotion. In the 

1 Tertullian, " Apol." c. 44. Minucius Felix, in his "Octavius," makes a 
similar statement : " The prisons are crowded with criminals of your re- 
ligion, but no Christian is there, unless he is either accused on account of 
his faith, or is a deserter from his faith." 

2 Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with Trypho the Jew, says to him, " Your 
blind and foolish teachers even to this day permit every one of you to have 
four or five wives." — Opera, p. 363. 

■ 1 Tim iii. 2, 12. 



INTERMARRIAGE WITH HEATHENS. 293 

second place, in all their discourses they proceeded on the as- 
sumption that the union of one man and one woman is the 
divine arrangement. 1 Throughout the whole of the New 
Testament, wherever marriage is mentioned, no other idea is 
entertained. It is easy to anticipate the effect of this method 
of procedure. It soon came to be understood that no good 
Christian had at one time more than one wife ; and at length 
the polygamist was excluded from communion by a positive 
enactment. 2 

Every disciple who married a heathen was cut off from 
Church privileges. The apostles had condemned such an 
alliance, 3 and it still continued to be spoken of in terms of the 
strongest reprobation. Nothing, it was said, but discomfort 
and danger could be anticipated from the union ; as parties 
related so closely, and yet differing so widely on the all-im- 
portant subject of religion, could not permanently hold cordial 
intercourse. A writer of this period has given a vivid de- 
scription of the trials of the female who made such an ill- 
assorted match. When she is about to be engaged in spiritual 
exercises, her husband will contrive some scheme for her an- 
noyance ; as her zeal will awaken his jealousy, and provoke 
his opposition. " If there be a prayer-meeting, the husband 
will devote this day to the use of the bath ; if a fast is to be 
observed, the husband has a feast at which he entertains his 
friends ; if a religious ceremony is to be attended, never does 
household business fall more upon her hands. And who 
would allow his wife, for the sake of visiting the brethren, to 
go from street to street the round of strange and especially of 
the poorer class of cottages ? .... If a strarfger brother come 
to her, what lodging in an alien's house ? If a present is to 
be made to any, the barn, the storehouse, are closed against 
her." 4 

The primitive heralds of the Gospel acted with remarkable 

1 Rom. vii. 1-3; 1 Cor. vii. 2. 

2 The Montanists, in their extravagance, insisted that any one who con- 
tracted a second marriage after the death of his first wife should be excom- 
municated. 

3 2 Cor. vi. 14. 4 Tertullian, " Ad Uxorem," ii. 4. 



294 SLAVERY. 

prudence in reference to the question of slavery. According 
to some high authorities, bondsmen constituted one-half ' of 
the entire population of the Roman Empire ; and as the new 
religion was designed to promote the spiritual good of man, 
rather than the improvement of his civil or political condition, 
the apostles did not deem it expedient, in the first instance, to 
attempt to break up established relations. They did not re- 
fuse to receive any one as a member of the Church because he 
was a slave-owner ; neither did they reject any applicant for 
admission because he was a slave. The social position of the 
individual did not at all affect his ecclesiastical standing ; for 
bond and free are " all one in Christ Jesus." 2 In the Church 
the master and the servant were on a footing of equality ; they 
joined in the same prayers ; they sat down, side by side, at 
the same communion-table ; and they saluted each other with 
the kiss of Christian recognition. A slave-owner might belong 
to a congregation of which his slave was the teacher ; and thus, 
whilst in the household, the servant was bound to obey his 
master according to the flesh, in the Church the master was 
required to remember that his minister was " worthy of double 
honor." 3 

The spirit of the Gospel is pre-eminently a spirit of free- 
dom ; but the inspired founders of our religion did not fail to 
remember that we may be partakers of the glorious liberty of 
the children of God, when we are under the yoke of temporal 
bondage. Whilst, therefore, they did not hesitate to speak of 
emancipation as a blessing, and whilst they said to the slave, 
" If thou mayest be made free, use it rather"; 4 they at the same 
time declared it to be his duty to submit cheerfully to the 
restraints of his present condition. " Let every man," said 

1 Gibbon, " Decline and Fall," chap. ii. Some writers, such as Zumpt 
and Merivale, consider this estimate quite extravagant. Others again think 
it quite too low. See Schaff's " History of the Christian Church," p. 316, 
New York, 1859 ; and Hallam's " Middle Ages," i. 145, Edit. 1841. 

2 Gal. iii. 28. 

3 Onesimus. the slave mentioned Philem. 10, 16, became a Christian 
minister. 

4 1 Cor. vii. 21. 



SLAVERY. 295 

they, "abide in the same calling wherein he was called ; for 
he that is called in the Lord, being a bond-servant, is the 
Lord's freeman." ' They were most careful to teach converted 
slaves not to presume on their church membership ; and not 
to be less respectful and obedient when those to whom they 
were in bondage were their brethren in the Lord. " Let as 
many servants as are under the yoke," says the apostle, " count 
their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God 
and his doctrine be not blasphemed. And they that have 
believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are 
brethren, but'rather do them service, because they are faithful 
and beloved, partakers of the benefit." a 

The influence of Christianity on the condition of the slave 
was soon felt. The believing master was more humane than 
his pagan neighbor ; 3 his bearing was more gentle, conciliatory, 
and considerate ; and the domestics under his care were more 
comfortable. 4 There was a disposition among slave-owners to 
let the oppressed go free ; and when they performed such an 
act of mercy, and both parties were in communion with the 
Church, the congregation was assembled to witness the con- 
summation of the happy deliverance. 5 Thus, multitudes of 
bondsmen in all parts of the Roman Empire were soon taught 
to regard the Gospel as their best benefactor. 

Whilst Christianity, in the spirit of its Great Founder, was 
laboring to improve the tone of public sentiment, and to undo 
heavy burdens, it exhibited other most attractive characteris- 
tics. Wherever a disciple travelled, if a church existed in the 
district, he felt himself at home. The ecclesiastical certificate 
which he carried along with him, at once introduced him to 
the meetings of his co-religionists, and secured for him all the 

1 1 Cor. vii. 20-22. 2 1 Tim. vi. 1, 2. 

3 Kindness to slaves was particularly enjoined by the early Church teach- 
ers. See Cyprian, M Lib. Tres. Test. adv. Judaeos," lib. iii., §§ 72, 73. 

4 It is stated in the " Octavius " of Minucius Felix that, in the estimation 
of the heathen, " for a slave to be partaker in certain religious ceremonies 
is deemed abominable impiety" (c. 25). 

5 One of the laws made by Constantine shortly after his conversion sanc- 
tioned the manumission of slaves on the Lord's day. 



296 CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP. 

advantage of membership. 1 The heathen were astonished at 
the cordiality with which the believers among whom they re- 
sided greeted a Christian stranger. He was saluted with the 
kiss of peace ; ushered into their assembly ; and invited to 
share the hospitality of the domestic board. If he was sick, 
they visited him ; if he was in want, they made provision for 
his necessities. The poor widows were supported at the ex- 
pense of the Church ; and for any of the brethren carried cap- 
tive by predatory bands of the barbarians who hovered upon 
the borders of the Empire, contributions were made to pur- 
chase their liberation. 3 To those without the Church, its 
members appeared as one large and affectionate family. The 
pagan could not comprehend what it was that so closely 
cemented their brotherhood ; for he did not understand how 
they could be attracted to each other by love to a common 
Saviour. He was induced to believe that they held intercourse 
by certain mysterious signs, and that they were affiliated by 
something like the bond of freemasonry. Even statesmen 
observed with uneasiness the spirit of fraternity which reigned 
among the Christians ; and, though the disciples never were 
convicted of any political designs, suspicions were often enter- 
tained that, after all, they formed a secret association, on an 
extensive scale, which would one day prove dangerous to the 
established government. 

But Christianity, like the sun, shines on the evil and the 
good ; and opportunities occurred for showing that its chari- 
ties were not confined within the limits of its own denomina- 
tion. There were occasions on which its very enemies could 
not well refuse to admit its excellence ; for in seasons of pub- 
lic distress, its adherents often signalized themselves as by far 
the most energetic, benevolent, and useful citizens. At such 
times its genial philanthropy appeared to singular advantage 
when contrasted with the cold and selfish spirit of polytheism. 

1 Tertullian, " De Praescrip." c. 20. 

8 Thus, on cne occasion, Cyprian raised a contribution of about $4,500 in 
Carthage to purchase the release of some Christians of Numidia. Cyprian, 
Epist. lx., p. 216. Tertullian said to the heathen, " Our charity dispenses 
more in every street than your religion in each temple." — Apol., c. 42. 



BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF THE GOSPEL. 297 

Thus, in the reign of the Emperor Gallus, when a pestilence 
spread dismay throughout North Africa, 1 and when the pagans 
shamefully deserted their nearest relatives in the hour of their 
extremity, the Christians stepped forward, and ministered to 
the wants of the sick and dying without distinction. 2 . Some 
years afterward, when the plague desolated Alexandria, and 
when the Gentile inhabitants left the dead unburied and cast 
out the dying into the streets, the disciples vied with each 
other in their efforts to alleviate the general suffering. 3 The 
most worthless men can scarcely forget acts of kindness per- 
formed under such circumstances. Forty years afterward, when 
the Church in the capital of Egypt was overtaken by the 
Diocletian persecution, their pagan neighbors concealed the 
Christians in their houses, and submitted to fines and imprison- 
ment rather than betray the refugees. 4 

The fact that the heathen were ready to shelter the perse- 
cuted members of the Church is itself of importance as a sign 
of the times. When the disciples first began to rise into no- 
tice in the great towns, they were commonly regarded with 
aversion ; and, when the citizens were assembled in thousands 
at the national spectacles, no cry was more vociferously re- 
peated than that of " The Christians to the lions." But this 
bigoted and intolerant spirit was fast passing away ; and when 
the State now set on foot a persecution, it could not reckon so 
extensively on the support of popular antipathy. The Church 
had attained such a position that the calumnies once repeated 
to its prejudice could no longer obtain credence ; the superior 
excellence of its system of morals was visible to all ; and it 
could point on every side to the blessings it communicated. It 
could demonstrate, by a reference to its history, that it pro- 
duced kind masters and dutiful servants, affectionate parents 
and obedient children, faithful friends and benevolent citizens. 
On all classes, whether rich or poor, learned or unlearned, its 
effects were beneficial. It elevated the character of the work- 

1 About a.d. 252. 

2 Cyprian, " Ad Demetrianum," and " De Mortalitate." "Vita Cypriani 
per Pontium," c. 9. 

3 Euseb. vii. 22. 4 Athanasius, " Hist. Arian. ad Monachos," § 64. 



298 SOCIAL INFLUENCE OF THE GOSPEL. 

ing classes, it vastly improved the position of the wife, it com- 
forted the afflicted, and it taught even senators wisdom. Its 
doctrines, whether preached to the half-naked Picts or the 
polished Athenians, to the fierce tribes of Germany or the 
literary coteries of Alexandria, exerted the same holy and 
happy influence. It promulgated a religion obviously fitted 
for all mankind. There had long since been a prediction that 
its dominion would extend " from sea to sea and from the 
river unto the ends of the earth "; and its progress already in- 
dicated that the promise was receiving its accomplishment. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE CHURCH OF ROME IN THE SECOND CENTURY. 

The great doctrines of Christianity are built on the facts 
of the life of our Lord. These facts are related by the four 
evangelists with singular precision, and yet with a variety of 
statement, as to details, which proves that each writer deliv- 
ered an independent testimony. The witnesses all agree when 
describing the wonderful history of the Captain of our Salva- 
tion ; and they dwell upon the narrative with a minuteness 
corresponding to the importance of the doctrine which the 
facts establish or illustrate. Hence it is that, while they scarcely 
notice, or altogether omit, several items of our Saviours biog- 
raphy, they speak particularly of His birth and of His miracles, 
of His death and of His resurrection. Thus, all the great 
facts of the Gospel are most amply authenticated. 

It is not so with the system of Romanism ; as nothing can 
be weaker than the historical basis on which it rests. The 
New Testament demonstrates that Peter was not the Prince of 
the Apostles ; for it records the rebuke which our Lord deliv- 
ered to the Twelve when they strove among themselves " which 
of them should be accounted the greatest." x It also supplies 
evidence that neither Peter nor Paul founded the Church of 
Rome ; as, before that Church had been visited by the Apostle 
of the Gentiles, its faith was " spoken of throughout the whole 
world "; s and the apostle of the circumcision was meanwhile 
laboring in another part of the Empire. 3 When writing to the 
Romans in A.D. 57, Paul greets many members of the Church, 
and mentions the names of a great variety of individuals; 4 

1 Luke xxii. 24-26. 2 Rom. i. 8, 13. 

8 Gal. ii. 7-9. 4 Rom. xvi. 3-15. 

(299) 



300 THE CHURCH OF ROME. 

but, throughout his long epistle, Peter is not once noticed. 
Had he been connected with that Christian community, he 
would, beyond doubt, have been prominently recognized. 

There is, indeed, a sense in which Peter may, perhaps, be 
said to have founded the great Church of the West ; for it is 
possible that some of the " strangers of Rome," ' who heard 
his celebrated sermon on the day of Pentecost, were then con- 
verted by his ministry; and that these converts, on their re- 
turn home, disseminated the truth, and organized a Christian 
society, in the chief city of the Empire. This, however, is but 
matter of conjecture ; and it is now useless to speculate on the 
subject ; as, in the absence of historical materials to furnish us 
with information, the question must remain involved in im- 
penetrable mystery. It is certain that the Roman Church was 
established long before it was visited by an apostle ; and it is 
equally clear that its members were distinguished, at an early 
period, by their Christian excellence. When Paul was a prisoner 
for the first time in the great city, he was freely permitted to 
exercise his ministry ; but, subsequently, when there during 
the Neronian persecution, he was, according to the current 
tradition, seized and put to death. 2 Peter's martyrdom took 
place, probably, some time afterward ; but the legend describ- 
ing it contains very improbable details, and the facts have ob- 
viously been distorted and exaggerated. 

For at least seventy years after the death of the apostle 
of the circumcision, nothing whatever is known of the his- 
tory of the Roman Church, except the names of some of its 
leading ministers. It was originally governed, like other 
Christian communities, by the common council of the presby- 
ters, who, as a matter of order, had a chairman ; but though, 
about a hundred years after the martyrdom of Paul, when the 
presidents began to be designated bishops, an attempt was 
made to settle their order of succession, 3 the result was by no 

1 Acts ii. 10. 2 Euseb. ii. 22. 

3 Hegesippus was the first who attempted to draw up a list of the bish- 
ops, or presiding presbyters of Rome. See Pearson's Criticism on Euseb. 
iv. 22, in his "Minor Works," vol. ii., p. 319, Oxford, 1844; and Routh's 
"Reliquiae," i., pp. 270, 271. 



THE EPISCOPAL SUCCESSION. 301 

means satisfactory. Some of the earliest writers who touch 
incidentally on the question, are inconsistent with themselves * 
and flatly contradict each other. 2 In fact, to this day, what is 
called the episcopal succession in the ancient Church of Rome, 
is an historical riddle. At first no one individual acted for life 
as the president or moderator of the presbytery, but, as it was 
well known that at an early date several eminent pastors had 
belonged to it, the most distinguished names found their way 
into the catalogues, and each writer consulted his own taste 
or judgment in regulating the order of succession. Thus it 
has occurred that their lists are utterly irreconcilable. All 
such genealogies are, indeed, of exceedingly dubious credit, 
and those who deem them of importance must always be per- 
plexed by the candid acknowledgment of the father of ecclesi- 
astical history. " How many," says he, " and who, prompted 
by a kindred spirit, were judged fit to feed the churches es- 
tablished by the apostles, it is not easy to say, any farther than 
may be gathered from the statements of Paul." 3 v 

About A.D. 139, Telesphorus, then at the head of the Ro- 
man presbytery, was put to death for his profession of the 
Gospel ; but the earliest authority for this fact is a Christian 
controversialist who wrote upward of forty years afterward ; 4 
and we are totally ignorant of all the circumstances connected 
with the martyrdom. The Church of the capital, which had 
hitherto enjoyed internal tranquillity, began in the time of 
Hyginus, who succeeded Telesphorus, to be disturbed by false 
teachers. Valentine, Cerdo, and other famous heresiarchs, ap- 

1 Thus, Irenseus (i. 27) speaks of Hyginus as the ninth, and again (iii. 3), 
as the eighth in succession from the apostles. 

2 Thus, Irenaeus affirms (iii. 3) that Linus was the immediate successor of 
the apostles, whilst Tertullian, who was his contemporary, and who pos- 
sessed equally good means of information, assigns that position to Clement. 
" De Praescrip. Haeret." c. 32. 

3 Euseb., iii. 4. In the Preface to his History he describes himself as en- 
tering on a " solitary and trackless course," where he could not find " even 
the bare footprints " of former investigators. 

4 Irenaeus, " Contra Om. Haer.," iii. 3, § 3. Bunsen has justly remarked 
that, " with Telesphorus the most obscure period of the Roman Church ter- 
minates." — Hippolytus, iv., pp. 209, 210. 



302 CHANGE OF POLITY. 

peared in Rome ; ' and labored with great assiduity to dissemi- 
nate their principles. The distractions created by these error- 
ists suggested the propriety of placing additional power in the 
hands of the presiding presbyter? Until this period every 
teaching elder had been accustomed to baptize and adminis- 
ter the Eucharist on his own responsibility; but it was now 
arranged that henceforth none should act without the sanc- 
tion of the president, who was thus constituted the centre of 
ecclesiastical unity. According to the previous system, some 
of the presbyters, who were themselves tainted with unsound 
doctrine, might have continued to hold communion with the 
heretics ; and it would have been exceedingly difficult to con- 
vict them of any direct breach of ecclesiastical law ; but now 
their power was curtailed ; and a broad line of demarcation 
was established between true and false churchmen. Thus, 
Rome was the city in which what has been called the (Catholic 
system was first organized. Every one in communion with 
the president, or bishop, was a Catholic; 3 every one who al- 
lied himself to any other professed teacher of the Christian 
faith was a sectary, a schismatic, or a heretic. 4 

The study of the best forms of government was peculiarly 
congenial to the Roman mind ; and the peace enjoyed under 
the Empire, as contrasted with the miseries of the civil wars 
in the last days of the Republic, pleaded strongly in favor of 
a change in the ecclesiastical constitution. But though this 
portion of the history of the Church is involved in much ob- 
scurity, there are indications that the transference of power 
from the presbyters to their president was not accomplished 
without a struggle. Until this period the Roman elders gen- 

1 Irenasus, iii. 4, § 3. 

2 This name continued to be given to the Roman bishop till at least the 
close of the second century. See Irenaeus quoted in Euseb. v. 24. 

3 KaQokiKoq. See this subject more fully illustrated in Period ii., sec. iii., 
chap. viii. See also Cooper's "Free Church of Ancient Christendom," pp. 
227-8. 

4 " Qui absistunt a principali successione, et quocunque loco colligunt, sus- 
pectos habere (oportet) vel quasi haereticos et malae sententias ; vel quasi 
scindentes et elatos et sibi placentes ; aut rursus ut hypocritas, quasstus 
gratia et vanae glorias hoc operantes." Irenasus, iv. 26, § 2. 



DISSATISFACTION OF POLYCARP. 303 

erally succeeded each other as moderators of presbytery in 
the order of their seniority ; 1 but it was now deemed neces- 
sary to adopt another method of appointment ; and it would 
appear that, at this time, a division of sentiment as to the 
best mode of filling up the presidential chair, was the cause 
of an unusually long vacancy. According to some, no less 
than four years 3 passed away between the death of Hyginus 
and the choice of his successor, Pius ; and even those who ob- 
ject to this view of the chronology admit that there was an in- 
terval of a twelvemonth. 3 The plan adopted was to choose 
the bishop by lot out of a leet of selected candidates. 4 Thus, 
to use the phraseology current toward the end of the second 
century, the new chief pastor " obtained the lot of the episco- 
pacy." 5 

The changes introduced at Rome were far from agreeable 
to many other Churches throughout the Empire ; and Poly- 
carp, the venerable pastor of Smyrna, afterward martyred, and 
now nearly eighty years of age, was sent to the imperial city 
on a mission of remonstrance. This remarkable visit is still 
enveloped in much mystery, for with the exception of an al- 
lusion to a question confessedly of secondary consequence, 6 
ecclesiastical writers have passed over the whole subject in 
suspicious silence ; but there is every reason to believe that 
Polycarp was deputed to complain of the incipient assump- 

1 See Period ii., sec. in., chap. vii. 

2 Blondel's " Apologia pro sententia Hieronymi," p. 18. Under ordinary 
circumstances the new president, or bishop, was often elected before his pre- 
decessor was buried. See Bingham, book ii., c. xi., § 2. 

8 See Pearson's " Minor Works," ii. 520. 

4 This method of appointment continued to be observed long afterward in 
some parts of the Church. See Bingham, book iv., chap, i., sec. i. At Al- 
exandria, in the beginning of the fourth century, the presbyters selected 
three of their senior members, of whom the people chose one. Cotelerius, 
ii., app., p. 180. See also the canon of a council held at Barcelona, A.D. 
599, quoted in "Columbanus ad Hibernos," Letter i., p. 29. 

5 Tdv rfjq emaKoirrjc Kkrjpov. " Irenseus," ed. Stieren, i., p. 433. 

6 The Paschal feast. Irenaeus admits that this point formed only a sub- 
ordinate topic of discussion. See Stieren 's " Irenaeus," i., p. 826, note 6. 



304 EARLY INFLUENCE OF ROME. 

tions of Roman prelacy. 1 Anicetus, who then presided over 
the Church of the capital, prudently bestowed very flattering 
attentions on the good old Asiatic pastor ; and, though there 
is no evidence that his scruples were removed, he felt it to be 
his duty to assist in opposing the corrupt teachers who were 
seeking to propagate their errors among the Roman disciples. 
The testimony to primitive truth delivered by so aged and 
eminent a minister produced a deep impression, and gave a 
decided check to the progress of heresy in the metropolis of 
the Empire. 3 ^ 

But though prelacy so soon encountered opposition, the 
innovation inaugurated in the great city was sure to exert 
a most extensive influence. Rome was then, not only the 
capital, but the mistress of a large portion of the world. 
She kept up a constant communication with every part of 
her dominions in Asia, Africa, and Europe ; strangers from 
almost every clime were to be found among her teeming 
population ; and intelligence of whatever occurred within 
her walls quickly found its way to distant cities and prov- 
inces. The Christians in other countries were slow to be- 
lieve that their brethren at headquarters had consented to 
any unwarrantable distribution of Church power, for they had 
hitherto displayed their zeal for the faith by most decisive 
and illustrious testimonies. Since the days of Nero they had 
sustained the first shock of every persecution, and nobly led 
the van of the army of martyrs. Telesphorus, the chairman 
of the presbytery, had recently paid for his position with his 
life ; their presiding pastor was always specially obnoxious 
to the spirit of intolerance ; and if they were anxious to 
strengthen his hands, who could complain ? The Roman 
Church had the credit of having enjoyed the tuition of emi- 
nent teachers ; its members had long been distinguished for 
intelligence and piety ; and it was not to be supposed that 
its ministers had sanctioned any step which they did not con- 
sider perfectly capable of vindication. There were other 
weighty reasons why Christian societies in Italy, as well as 

1 See Period ii., sec. iii„ chap. vii. s Euseb. iv. 14. 



ROME AND CARTHAGE. 305 

elsewhere, regarded the acts of the Church of the imperial 
city with peculiar indulgence. It was the sentinel at the 
seat of government to give them notice of the approach of 
danger, 1 and the kind friend to aid them in times of difficulty. 
The wealth of Rome was prodigious ; and though as yet " not 
many mighty " and " not many noble " had joined the pro- 
scribed sect, it had been making way among the middle 
classes ; and there is cause to think that at this time a con- 
siderable number of the rich merchants of the capital be- 
longed to its communion. It was known early in the second 
century as a liberal benefactor ; and, from a letter addressed 
to it about A.D. 170, it would appear that even the Church of 
Corinth was then indebted to its munificence. " It has ever 
been your habit," says the writer, " to confer benefits in vari- 
ous ways, and to send assistance to the Churches in every 
city. You have relieved the wants of the poor, and afforded 
help to the brethren condemned to the mines. By a succes- 
sion of these gifts, Romans, you preserve the customs of your 
Roman ancestors."* 

The influence of the Roman Church throughout the West 
soon became conspicuous. Here, as in many other instances, 
commerce was the pioneer of religion , and as the merchants 
of the capital traded with all the ports of their great inland 
sea, their sailors had a share in achieving some of the early 
triumphs of the Gospel. Carthage, one of the most populous 
cities in the Empire, was indebted for Christianity to Rome ; s 
and by means of the constant intercourse kept up between 
these two commercial marts, the mother Church maintained 
an ascendency over her African daughter. Thus it was that 

1 Cyprian speaks of sending messengers to Rome " to ascertain and re- 
port as to any rescript published respecting " the Christians. " Epist. ad 
Successum." The Roman clergy could at once supply the information. 

3 Extract of a letter from Dionysius of Corinth, preserved in Eusebius, 
iv. 23. 

3 The testimonies to this fact may be found discussed in Miinter's " Pri- 
mordia Ecclesias Africanae," p. 10. Herodian, who flourished in the third 
century, speaks of Carthage as the next city after Rome in size and wealth. 
Lib. vii. 6. 

20 



306 IREN^EUS AND THE CHURCH OF ROME. 

certain Romish practices and pretensions so soon found ad- 
vocates among the Carthaginian clergy. 1 In other quarters 
we discover early indications of the extraordinary deference 
paid to the Church of the city " sitting upon many waters." 
Toward the close of the second century, Irenaeus, a disciple 
of Polycarp, was pastor of Lyons ; and from this some have 
rather abruptly drawn the inference that the Christian con- 
gregations then existing in the south of France were estab- 
lished by missionaries from the East ; but it is at least equally 
probable that the young minister from Asia Minor was in 
Rome before he passed to the more distant Gaul ; and he is 
the first father who speaks of the superior importance of the 
Church of the Italian metropolis. 2 His testimony to the po- 
sition which it occupied about eighty years after the death of 
the Apostle John, shows clearly that it stood already at the 
head of the Western Churches. The Church of Rome, says 
he, is " very great and very ancient, and known to all, 
founded and established by the two most glorious Apostles 
Peter and Paul." 3 " To this Church, in which Catholics 4 
have always preserved apostolic tradition, every Catholic 
Church should, because it is more potentially apostolical, 6 re- 
pair." 6 

The term Catholic, which occurs for the first time in a docu- 

1 In this way we readily account for various statements in Tertullian and 
Cyprian. 

2 That he acted as the champion of the Church of Rome appears from 
Euseb. v. 20. 

3 We here see how a father who wrote so soon after the apostolic age, 
blunders egregiously respecting the history of the Apostolic Church. 

4 So I understand " his qui sunt undique." See Wordsworth's " Hippo- 
lytus," p. 200. W T e have thus a remarkable proof that the word catholic 
was not in ecclesiastical use among the Latins when Irenaeus wrote, for 
his translator here expresses the idea by a circumlocution. See Irenaeus, 
Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Book iii., 11, p. 293, note, and iii. 15, p. 
321, note. 

5 " Propter potentiorem principalitatem." 

6 Irenaeus, iii. 3. See on this passage Gieseler, by Cunningham, i. 97, 
note. See also Period ii., sec. iii., chap. viii. 



AUTHORITY OF ROMAN TRADITIONS. 307 

ment written about this period, 1 was probably coined at 
Rome ; and implied, as already intimated, that the individual 
so designated was in communion with the bishop. The pre- 
siding pastors in the great city began now, in token of fra- 
ternity and recognition, to send the Eucharist to their breth- 
ren elsewhere by trusty messengers, 2 and thus the name was 
soon extended to all who maintained ecclesiastical relations 
with these leading ministers. Sectaries were almost always 
the minority ; and in many places, where Christianity was 
planted, they were utterly unknown. The orthodox could, 
therefore, not inappropriately be styled members of the 
Catholic or general Church, inasmuch as they formed the bulk 
of the Christian population, and were found wherever the 
new religion had made converts. And though the heretics 
pleaded tradition in support of their peculiar dogmas, their 
statements could not stand the test of examination. Irenaeus, 
in the work from which the words just quoted are extracted, 
very fairly argues that no such traditions as those propagated 
by the sectaries were known in the most ancient and respect- 
able Churches. No Christian community in Western Europe 
claimed higher antiquity than that of Rome ; and as it had 
been taught, as he alleges, by Paul and Peter, none should 
have been better acquainted with the original Gospel. Be- 
cause of its extent it already required a larger staff' of minis- 
ters than any other Church ; and thus there were a greater 
number of individuals to quicken and correct each other's 
recollections. It was accordingly to be inferred that the tra- 
ditions of surrounding Christian societies, if true, should cor- 
respond to those of Rome ; as the great metropolitan Church 
could, for various reasons, be said to be more potentially 
primitive or apostolical, and as its traditions should have 
been particularly accurate. The doctrines of the heretics, 

1 The circular letter relating to the martyrdom of Polycarp quoted in 
Euseb. iv. 1 5. It was written a considerable time after the death of the 
martyr, as it speaks of the way in which his memory was cherished when it 
was drawn up. § 19. 

2 Irenseus quoted in Euseb. v. 24. See Period ii., sec. iii., chap. viii. 



308 MARCIA AND VICTOR. 

which were opposed to the testimony of this important wit- 
ness, were to be discarded as destitute of authority. 

We can only conjecture the route by which Irenaeus trav- 
elled to the south of France when he first set out from Asia 
Minor ; but we have direct evidence that he had paid a visit 
to the capital shortly before he wrote this memorable eulo- 
gium on the Roman Church. About the close of the dread- 
ful persecution endured in A.D. 177 by the Christians of 
Lyons and Vienne, he had been commissioned to repair to 
Italy with a view to a settlement of the disputes created by 
the appearance of the Montanists. As he was furnished with 
very complimentary credentials, 1 he was handsomely treated 
by his friends in the metropolis ; and if he returned home laden 
with presents to disciples whose sufferings had recently so 
deeply moved the sympathy of their brethren, it is not strange 
that he gracefully seized an opportunity of extolling the 
Church to which he owed such obligations. His account of 
its greatness is obviously the inflated language of a pane- 
gyrist ; but in due time its hyperbolic statements received a 
still more extravagant interpretation ; and, on the authority 
of this ancient father, the Church of Rome was pompously 
announced as the mistress and the mother of all Churches. 

It has been mentioned in a former chapter 8 that the cele- 
brated Marcia, who, till shortly before his death, possessed 
almost absolute control over the Emperor Commodus, made 
a profession of the faith. Her example encouraged other 
personages of distinction to connect themselves with the Ro- 
man Church ; 3 and, through the medium of these members of 
his flock, the bishop Eleutherius had an influence such as none 
of his predecessors possessed. It is beyond doubt that Marcia, 
after consulting with Victor, the successor of Eleutherius, in- 
duced the Emperor to perform acts of kindness to some of 
her co-religionists. 4 The favor of the court puffed up the 
spirit of this naturally haughty churchman ; and though, as 
we. have seen, certain ecclesiastical movements in the chief 

1 We have an extract from them in Euseb. v. 4. 

2 Period ii., sec. i., chap, ii., p. 268. 3 See Euseb. v. 21. 
4 Hippolytus, " Refut. Om. Haeres.," book ix. 



VICTOR. 309 

city had long before excited much ill-suppressed dissatisfac- 
tion, the Christian commonwealth was now startled for the 
first time by a very flagrant exhibition of the arrogance of a 
Roman prelate. 1 Because the Churches of Asia Minor cele- 
brated the Paschal feast in a way different from that observed 
in the metropolis, 2 Victor cut them off from his communion. 
But this attempt of the bishop of the great city to act as lord 
over God's heritage was premature. Other churches con- 
demned the rashness of his procedure ; his refusal to hold fel- 
lowship with the Asiatic Christians threatened only to isolate 
himself ; and he soon found it expedient to cultivate more 
pacific councils. 

At this time the jurisdiction of Victor did not properly ex- 
tend beyond the few ministers and congregations in the impe- 
rial city. A quarter of a century afterward even the bishop 
of Portus, a seaport town at the mouth of the Tiber, fifteen 
miles distant from the capital, acknowledged no allegiance to 
the Roman prelate. 3 The boldness of Victor in pronouncing 
so many foreign brethren unworthy of Catholic communion 
may at first, therefore, appear unaccountable. But he acted, 
in r this instance, in conjunction with many other pastors. 
Among the Churches of Gentile origin there was a deep prej- 
udice against what was considered the Judaizing of the Asi- 
atic Christians in relation to the Paschal festival, and a strong 
impression that the character of the Church was compromised 
by any very marked diversity in its religious observances.. 
There is, however, reason to think that Victor was to some 
extent prompted by motives of a different complexion. Fifty 

1 This occurred early in the reign of Septimius Severus, who at first is 
said to have been very favorable to the Church. Shortly before, many in 
Rome of great wealth and eminent station had become Christians. — Euseb. 
v., c. 21. 

2 See a more minute account of this controversy in Period h\, sec. iii., 
chap. xii. Eusebius describes Victor as attempting to cut off these churches 
"from the common unity," v. 24. 

8 This is evident from the fact that Hippolytus is scarcely willing to rec- 
ognize some of the Roman bishops, his contemporaries. But both parties 
probably belonged to the same synod. Hippolytus was the leader of a for- 
midable opposition. 



3IO THE SUCCESSOR OF PETER. 

years before, the remarkable words addressed to the apostle of 
the circumcision — " Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will 
build my Church " '—were interpreted at Rome in the way in 
which they are understood commonly by Protestants ; for the 
brother of the Roman bishop Pius, 2 writing about A.D. 150, 
teaches that the Rock on which the Church is built is the Son 
of God ; 3 but ingenuity was already beginning to discover an- 
other exposition, and the growing importance of the Roman 
bishopric suggested the startling thought that the Church was 
built on Peter ! '/The name of the Galilean fisherman began 
to be connected with the see of Victor ; and it was easy for 
ambition or flattery to draw the inference that. Victor himself 
was in some way the heir and representative of the great 
apostle. The doctrine that the bishop was necessary at the 
centre of Catholic unity had already gained currency; and if 
a centre of unity for the whole Church was also indispensable, 
who had a better claim to the pre-eminence than the successor 
of Peter? When Victor fulminated his sentence of excom- 
munication against the Asiatic Christians he acted under the 

1 Matt. xvi. 18. 

a See the Muratorian fragment in Bunsen's " Analecta Ante-Nicasna," i. 
154, 155. This, according to Bunsen, is a fragment of a work of Hegesip- 
pus, and written about A.D. 165. Hippolytus, i. 314. 

3 '' Herman Pastor," lib. iii., simil. ix., § 12-14. " Petra hsec .... Filius 

Dei est Quid est deinde hasc turris? Hasc, inquit, ecclesia est. 

.... Demonstra mihi quare non in terra aedificatur hasc turris, sed supra 
petram." 

* Tertullian, " De Praescrip." xxii. " Latuit aliquid Petrum aedificandae 
ecclesiae petram dictum ? " Tertullian here speaks of the doctrine as 
already current. Even after he became a Montanist, he still adhered to 
the same interpretation — " Petrum solum invenio maritum, per socrum ; 
monogamum praesumo per ecclesiam, qua super ilium cedificata omnem 
gradum ordinis sui de monogamis erat collocatura." — De Monogamia, c. 
viii. Again, in another Montanist tract, he says : " Qualis es, evertens 
atque commutans manifestam domini intentionem personaliter hoc Petro 
conferentem ? Super te, inquit, czdzftcabo ecclesiam meant" — De Pudicz- 
tia, c. xxi. See also " De Praescrip.," c. xxii. According to Origen, every 
believer, as well as Peter, is the foundation of the Church. " Contra Cel- 
sum," vi. 77. See also "Comment, in Matthaeum xii.," Opera, torn, iii., pp. 
524, 526. 



THE CATHOLIC UNITY. 3II 

partial inspiration of this novel theory. He made an abortive 
attempt to speak in the name of the whole Church — to assert 
a position as the representative or president of all the bishops 
of the Catholic world 1 — and to carry out a new system of 
ecclesiastical unity. The experiment was a failure, simply 
because the idea looming in the imagination of the Roman 
bishop had not yet obtained full possession of the mind of 
Christendom. l/ 

Prelacy had been employed as the cure for Church divisions, 
but the remedy had proved worse than the disease. Sects 
meanwhile continued to multiply ; and they were nowhere so 
abundant as in the very city where the new machinery had 
been set up for their suppression. Toward the close of the 
second century their multitude was one of the standing re- 
proaches of Christianity. What was called the Catholic Church 
was now on the brink of a great schism ; and the very man 
who aspired to be the centre of Catholic unity, threatened to 
be the cause of the disruption. It was becoming more and 
more apparent that, when the presbyters consented to sur- 
render any portion of their privileges to the bishop, they be- 
trayed the cause of ecclesiastical freedom ; and even now 
indications were not wanting that the Catholic system was 
likely to degenerate into a spiritual despotism. 

1 See this subject more fully explained in Period ii., sec. ill. , ch. viii. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE CHURCH OF ROME IN THE THIRD CENTURY. 

THOUGH very few of the genuine productions of the min- 
isters of the ancient Church of Rome are still extant, 1 multi- 
tudes of spurious epistles attributed to its early bishops have 
been carefully preserved. It is easy to account for this appar- 
ent anomally. The documents known as the false Decretals, 2 
and ascribed to the Popes of the first and immediately suc- 
ceeding centuries, were suited to the taste of times of igno- 
rance, and were peculiarly grateful to the occupants of the 
Roman see. As evidences of its original superiority they 
were accordingly transmitted to posterity, and ostentatiously 
exhibited among the Papal title-deeds. But the real compo- 
sitions of the primitive pastors of the great city supplied 
little food for superstition ; and contained startling and hu- 
miliating revelations which laid bare the absurdity of claims 
subsequently advanced. These unwelcome witnesses were, 
therefore, quietly permitted to pass into oblivion. 

It is said, however, that Truth is the daughter of Time, 
and the discovery of monuments long since forgotten, or of 
writings supposed to be lost, has often wonderfully verified 
and illustrated the apologue. The reappearance, within the 

1 Even the letters of Victor, which created such a sensation throughout 
the Church, are not forthcoming. See Pearson's " Vindiciae Ignatianae," 
pars 2, cap. 13, as to the spuriousness of those imputed to him. 

a They extend from Clement, who, according to some lists, was the first 
Pope, to Syricius, who was made Bishop of Rome A.D. 384. All candid 
writers, whether Romanists or Protestants, now acknowledge them to be 
forgeries. They may be found in " Binii Concilia." They made their ap- 
pearance, for the first time, about the eighth century or shortly afterward. 
(312) 



HIPPOLYTUS. 313 

last three hundred years, of various ancient records and memo- 
rials, has shed a new light on the history of antiquity. Other 
testimonies equally valuable will, no doubt, yet be forthcoming 
for the settlement of existing controversies. 

In A.D. 155 1, as some workmen in the neighborhood of 
Rome were employed in clearing away the ruins of a dilapi- 
dated chapel, they found a broken mass of sculptured marble 
among the rubbish. The fragments, when put together, 
proved to be a statue representing a person of venerable 
aspect sitting in a chair, on the back of which were the names 
of various publications. It was ascertained, on more minute 
examination, that, some time after the establishment of 
Christianity by Constantine, 1 this monument had been erected 
in honor of Hippolytus — a learned writer and able controver- 
sialist, who had been bishop of Portus in the early part of 
the third century, and who had finished his career by martyr- 
dom, about A.D. 236, during the persecution under the Em- 
peror Maximin. Hippolytus is commemorated as a saint in 
the Romish Breviary ; 3 and the resurrection of his statue, 
after it had been buried a thousand years, created quite a sen- 
sation among his Papal admirers. Experienced sculptors, 
under the auspices of the Pontiff, Pius IV., restored the frag- 
ments to nearly their previous condition ; and the renovated 
statue was then duly honored with a place in the Library of 
the Vatican. 8 

Nearly three hundred years afterward, or in 1842, a manu- 
script which had been found in a Greek monastery at Mount 
Athos, was deposited in the Royal Library at Paris. This 
work, which has been since published, 4 and which is entitled 

1 This is the date assigned to its erection by Bunsen, but Dr. Words- 
worth argues that it was erected earlier. 

2 22d August. 

8 it has since been removed to the museum of the Lateran. According 
to Mr. Northcote (" Roman Catacombs," p. 85), it is " spoken of by Winck- 
elmann, and other critics, as the finest specimen of ancient Christian 
sculpture in existence." 

4 The first edition appeared at Oxford in 1851, exactly three hundred 
years after the discovery of the statue. 



314 HIPPOLYTUS. 

" Philosophumena, or a Refutation of all Heresies," has been 
identified as the production of Hippolytus. It is not named 
in the list of his writings mentioned on the back of the marble 
chair ; but any one who inspects its contents can satisfactorily 
account for its exclusion from that catalogue. It reflects 
strongly on the character and principles of some of the early 
Roman bishops ; and as the Papal see was fast rising into 
power when the statue was erected, it was obviously deemed 
prudent to omit an invidious publication. The writer of 
the " Philosophumena " declares that he is the author of one 
of the books named on that piece of ancient sculpture, and 
various other facts amply corroborate his testimony. There is, 
therefore, no good reason to doubt that a Christian bishop who 
lived about fifteen miles from Rome and who flourished little 
more than one hundred years after the death of the Apostle 
John, composed the newly discovered Treatise. 1 

In accordance with the title of his work, Hippolytus here 
reviews all the heresies which had been broached up till the 
date of its publication. Long prior to the reappearance of 
this production, it was known that one of the early Roman 
bishops had been induced to countenance the errors of the 
Montanists ; 2 and it would seem that Victor was the indi- 
vidual thus deceived ; s but it had not been before suspected 
that Zephyrinus and Callistus, the two bishops next to him in 
succession, 4 held unsound views respecting the doctrine of 
the Trinity. Such, however, is the testimony of their neigh- 
bor and contemporary, the bishop of Portus. The witness 
may, indeed, be somewhat fastidious, as he was himself both 
erudite and eloquent ; but had there not been some glaring 
deficiency in both the creed and the character of the chief 

1 This point has been established by Bunsen and Wordsworth. Ac- 
cording to Kurtz and others, Hippolytus was a schismatic bishop at Rome. 
See Kurtz's " History of the Christian Church by Edersheim," pp. 133, 137. 

This is expressly stated by Tertullian, "Adversus Praxeam," c. i. 

See Bower's " History of the Popes." Victor, 13th Bishop. 

According to the commonly received chronology, Victor occupied the 
papal chair from A.D. 192 to A.D. 201 ; Zephyrinus from A.D. 201 to A.D. 
219 ; and Callistus from A.D. 219 to A.D. 223. 



CALLISTUS. 315 

pastor of Rome, Hippolytus would scarcely have described 
Zephyrinus as " an illiterate and covetous man/' ■ " unskilled in 
ecclesiastical science," 2 and a disseminator of heretical doc- 
trine. According to the statement of his accuser, he con- 
founded the First and Second Persons of the Godhead, main- 
taining the identity of the Father and the Son. 3 

Callistus, who was made bishop on the death of Zephyrinus, 
possessed a far more vigorous intellect than his predecessor. 
Though regarded by the orthodox Hippolytus with no friendly 
eye, he was endowed with an extraordinary share of energy 
and perseverance. He had been originally a slave, and he 
must have won the confidence of his wealthy Christian 
master, Carpophorus, for he had been intrusted by him 
with the care of a savings bank. The establishment became 
insolvent, in consequence, as Hippolytus alleges, of the 
mismanagement of its conductor ; and many widows and 
others who had committed their money to his keeping, 
lost their deposits. When Carpophorus, by whom he was 
suspected of embezzlement, determined to call him to ac- 
count, Callistus fled to Portus — in the hope of escaping by 
sea to some other country. He was, however, overtaken ; and, 
after an ineffectual attempt to drown himself, was arrested 
and thrown into prison. His master, placable and kind-hearted, 
speedily consented to release him from confinement ; but he 
was no sooner at large, than, under pretence of collecting 
debts due to the savings bank, he went into a Jewish syna- 
gogue during the time of public worship, and caused such 
disturbance that he was seized and dragged before the city 
prefect. The magistrate ordered him first to be scourged, 
and then transported to the mines of Sardinia. He did not 
remain long in exile; for, about this time, Marcia procured 

1 avSpbg Ifii&Tov ml aloxponepdovg. 2 aTteipov tuv £KKlrjaiacfiKO)v bpuv. 

3 " Philosophumena," book ix. Dr. Dollinger, in a recent work (" Hippo- 
lytus and Callistus, or the Church of Rome in the first half of the Third 
Century "), maintains that Hippolytus was an anti-Pope set up in opposi- 
tion to Callistus. He admits, however, the genuineness of the " Philosophu- 
mena." He contends that Portus was not a bishopric in the time of Hippoly- 
tus ; but he has certainly failed to establish that point. 



316 ZEPHYRINUS AND CALLISTUS. 

from the Emperor Commodus an order for the release of the 
Christians banished to that unhealthy island; and Callistus, 
though not included in the act of grace, contrived to prevail 
upon the governor to set him at liberty along with the other 
prisoners. He now returned to Rome, where he acquired the 
reputation of a changed character. In due time he procured 
an appointment to one of the lower ecclesiastical offices ; and 
as he possessed much talent, he did not find it difficult to ob- 
tain promotion. When Zephyrinus was advanced to the episco- 
pate, Callistus, his special favorite, became one of the leading 
ministers of the Roman Church ; and exercised an almost 
unbounded sway over the mind of the superficial and time- 
serving bishop. The Christians of the chief city were split up 
into parties, some advocating the orthodox doctrine of the 
Trinity, and others abetting a different theory. Callistus dex- 
terously availed himself of their divisions ; and, by inducing 
each faction to believe that he espoused its cause, managed, 
on the death of Zephyrinus, to secure his election to the 
vacant dignity. 

When Callistus had attained the object of his ambition, he 
tried to restore peace to the Church by endeavoring to per- 
suade the advocates of the antagonistic principles to make 
mutual concessions. Laying aside the reserve which he had 
hitherto maintained, he now took up an intermediate position, 
in the hope that both parties would accept his own theory of 
the Godhead. " He invented," says Hippolytus, " such a 
heresy as follows. He said that the Word is the Son and is 
also the Father, being called by different names, but being one 
indivisible spirit ; and that the Father is not one and the Son 
another (person), but that they both are one and the same. 
. . . . The Father, having taken human flesh, deified it by 
uniting it to Himself, .... and so he said that the Father 
had suffered with the Son." ' 

' Though Callistus, as well as Hippolytus, is recognized as a 
saint in the Romish Breviary, 3 it is thus certain that the bishop 
of Portus regarded the bishop of Rome as a schemer and a 
heretic. At this period, all bishops were on a level of equal- 

1 " Philosophumena," book ix. 2 14th October. 



CALLISTUS. 317 

ity, for Hippolytus, though the pastor of a town in the neigh- 
borhood of the chief city, did not acknowledge Callistus as 
his metropolitan. The bishop of Portus describes himself as 
one of those who are " successors of the apostles, partakers 
with them of the same grace both of principal priesthood and 
doctorship, and reckoned among the guardians of the Church." ' 
Hippolytus testifies that Callistus was afraid of him, 8 and if 
both were members of the same synod, 3 well might the hetero- 
dox prelate stand in awe of a minister who possessed co-ordi- 
nate authority, with greater honesty and superior erudition. 
But still, it is plain, from the admissions of the " Philoso- 
phumea," that the bishop of Rome, in the time of the author 
of this treatise, was beginning to presume upon his position. 
Hippolytus complains of his irregularity in receiving into his 
communion some who had been " cast out of the Church " of 
Portus "after judicial sentence." 4 Had the bishop of the 
harbor of Rome been subject to the bishop of the capital, he 
would neither have expressed himself in such a style, nor pre- 
ferred such an accusation. 

Various circumstances indicate, as has already been sug- 
gested, that the bishop of Rome, in the time of the Anto- 
nines, was chosen by lot ; but we infer from the " Philo- 
sophumena" that, early in the third century, another mode 
of appointment had been adopted. 5 He now owed his advance- 
ment to the suffrages of the Church members, for Hippolytus 
hints very broadly that Callistus pursued a 'particular course 
with a view to promote his popularity and secure his election. 

1 " Philosophumena," book i., prooemium. 2 dedoinug efts. 

3 Bunsen describes Hippolytus as " a member of the Roman presbytery" 
(" Hippolytus," i. 313), but he is here evidently mistaken. Hippolytus was 
at the head of a presbytery of his own, the presbytery of Portus. The 
presbytery of Rome was confined to the elders or presbyters of that city. 
The presbyter Hippolytus mentioned by some ancient writers was a quite 
different person from the bishop of Portus. 

4 " Philosophumena," book ix. 

5 It is probable that the bishop was at first chosen by lot out of a leet of 
three selected by the presbytery from among its members. (See preceding 
chapter, p. 303, note). An appointment was now made out of this leet of 
three, not by lot, but by popular suffrage. 



3l8 FABIAN. 

About A.D. 236, Fabian was chosen bishop of Rome by the 
votes of the whole brotherhood, and there is on record a 
minute account of certain extraordinary circumstances which 
signalized the occasion. " When all the brethren had assem- 
bled in the church for the purpose of choosing their future 
bishop, and when the names of many worthy and distinguished 
men had suggested themselves £0 the consideration of the 
multitude, no one so much as thought of Fabian, who was then 
present. They relate, however, that a dove gliding down from 
the roof, settled directly on his head, as when the Holy Spirit, 
like a dove, rested upon the head of our Saviour. On this, 
the whole people, as if animated by one divine impulse, with 
great eagerness, and with the utmost unanimity, exclaimed 
that he was worthy ; and, taking hold of him, placed him 
forthwith on the bishop's chair." 1 

Some time after the resurrection of the statue of Hippo- 
lytus, another revelation was made in the neighborhood of 
Rome which has thrown much light upon its early ecclesi- 
astical history. In the latter part of the sixteenth century, 
the unusual appearance of some apertures in the ground, 3 not 
far from the Papal capital, awakened curiosity, and led to the 
discovery of dark subterranean passages of immense extent 
filled with monuments and inscriptions. These dismal regions, 
after having been shut up for about eight hundred years, were 
then reopened and re-explored. 

The soil for miles around Rome is undermined, and the 
long labyrinths thus created are called catacombs. 3 The gal- 
leries are often found in stories two or three deep, communi- 
cating with each other by stairs ; and formerly some of them 
were partially lighted from above. They were originally gravel- 
pits or stone-quarries, and were commenced long before the 
reign of Augustus. 4 The enlargement of the city, and the 

1 Euseb. vi. 29. 

2 These apertures were revealed by the accidental falling in of a portion 
of the high-road outside the Porta Salara in the year 1578. Northcote, p. 32. 

3 Evidently from Kara, down, and nvfxfSoc, a cavity. Mr. Northcote calcu- 
lates that the streets, taken together, are 900 miles long ! 

4 See " Three Introductory Lectures on Ecclesiastical History,'' by Wm. 
Lee, D.D., of Trinity College, Dublin, p. 27. 



THE CATACOMBS. 319 

growing demand for building materials, led them to new and 
most extensive excavations. In the preparation of these vast 
caverns, we may trace the presiding care of Providence. As 
America, discovered a few years before the Reformation, fur- 
nished a place of refuge to the Protestants who fled from 
ecclesiastical intolerance, so the catacombs, reopened shortly 
before the birth of our Lord, supplied shelter to the Christians 
in Rome during the frequent proscriptions of the second and 
third centuries. When the Gospel was first propagated in the 
imperial city, its adherents belonged chiefly to the lower 
classes ; and, for reasons of which it is now impossible to speak 
with certainty, 1 it was soon very generally embraced by the 
quarrymen and sand-diggers. 2 Thus it was that when perse- 
cution raged in the capital, the Christian felt himself com- 
paratively safe in the catacombs. The parties in charge of 
them were his friends ; they gave him seasonable intimation 
of the approach of danger; and among these " dens and 
caves of the earth," with countless places of ingress and 
egress, the officers of government attempted in vain to over- 
take a fugitive. 

At present their appearance is most uncomfortable ; they 
contain no chamber sufficient for the accommodation of any 
large number of worshippers ; and it has even been questioned 
whether human life could be long supported in such gloomy 
habitations. But we have the best authority for believing that 
some of the early Christians remained for a considerable time 
in these asylums. 3 Wells of water have been found in their ob- 

1 It is probable that many were condemned to labor in these mines as a 
punishment for having embraced Christianity. See Lee's " Three Lect- 
ures," p. 28. 

2 Maitland's " Church in the Catacombs," p. 24. Dr. Maitland visited 
Rome in r84i, but his inspection of the Lapidarian Gallery was regarded 
with extreme jealousy by the authorities there. After having obtained a 
license " to make some memoranda in drawing in that part of the Museum," 
he was officially informed that " his permission did not extend to the in- 
scriptions" and the communication was accompanied by a demand that 
" the copies already made should be given up." To his refusal to yield to 
this mandate we are indebted for many important memorials to be found in 
his interesting volume. 

3 See Maitland, pp. 27-29. 



320 THE CATACOMBS. 

scure recesses ; fonts for baptism have also been discovered ; 
and it is beyond doubt that the disciples met here for religious 
exercises. As early as the second century these vaults became 
the great cemetery of the Church. Many of the memorials of 
the dead which they contained have long since been transferred 
to the Lapidarian Gallery in the Vatican ; and there, in the 
palace of the Pope, the venerable tombstones testify, to all 
who will consult them, how much modern Romanism differs 
from ancient Christianity. 

Though many of these sepulchral monuments were erected 
in the fourth and fifth centuries, they indicate a remarkable 
freedom from superstitions with which the religion of the New 
Testament has been since defiled. These witnesses to the faith 
of the early Church of Rome altogether repudiate the worship 
of the Virgin Mary, for the inscriptions of the Lapidarian Gal- 
lery, all arranged under the Papal supervision, contain no ad- 
dresses to the mother of our Lord. 1 They point only to Jesus 
as the great Mediator, Redeemer, and Friend. It is also worthy 
of note that the tone of these voices from the grave is emi- 
nently cheerful. Instead of speaking of masses for the repose 
of souls, or representing departed believers as still doomed to 
pass through purgatory, they describe the deceased as having 
entered immediately into the abodes of eternal rest. " Alex- 
ander," says one of them, "is not dead, but lives beyond the 
stars, and his body rests in this tomb." " Here," says another, 
" lies Paulina, in the place of the blessed." " Gemella," says a 
third, " sleeps in peace." " Aselus," says a fourth, " sleeps in 
Christ." 2 

We learn from the testimony of Hippolytus that, during the 
episcopate of Zephyrinus, Callistus was "set over the cemetery." 3 
This was considered a highly important trust, as, in those peril- 

1 Maitland, p. 14. 

2 Maitland, pp. 33, 41, 43, 170. Perhaps the earliest specimen of anything 
like the invocation of saints found among these inscriptions is an epitaph 
written by Damasus, who was elected Bishop of Rome A.D. 366. Poetical 
license may permit an apostrophe to the dead on a tombstone. See North- 
cote, p. 187. 

8 " Philosophumena," book ix. 



THE CATACOMBS. 32 1 

ous times, the safety of the Christians very much depended on 
the prudence, activity, and courage of the individual who had 
charge of their subterranean refuge. 1 The new curator signal- 
ized himself by the ability with which he discharged the duties 
of his appointment ; he embellished and enlarged some of these 
dreary caves ; and hence a portion of the catacombs was desig- 
nated " The Cemetery of Callistus." Hippolytus, led astray by 
the ascetic spirit beginning so strongly to prevail in the com- 
mencement of the third century, was opposed to all second 
marriages, so that he was sadly scandalized by the exceedingly 
liberal views of his Roman brother on the subject of matri- 
mony ; and he was so ill-informed as to pronounce them novel. 
" In his time," says he indignantly, " bishops, presbyters, and 
deacons, though they had been twice or three times married, 
began to be recognized as God's ministers ; and if any one of 
the clergy married, it was determined that such a person should 
remain among the clergy, as not having sinned." a We can not 
tell how many of the ancient bishops of the great city were 
husbands ; 3 we have certainly no distinct evidence that even 
Callistus took to himself a wife ; but the primitive Church of 
Rome did not impose celibacy on her ministers ; and in sup- 
port of this fact, we can produce the unimpeachable testimony 
of her own catacombs. There is, for instance, a monument 
"To Basilus the Presbyter, and Felicitas his wife"; and, on 
another tombstone, erected about A.D. 472, or only four years 

1 As Carthage now furnished Rome with marble and granite, the quarry- 
men and sand-diggers of the catacombs came frequently into contact with 
the Carthaginian sailors ; and we may thus see how, in the time of Cyprian, 
there were such facilities for epistolary intercourse between the Churches of 
Rome and Carthage. Under favorable circumstances, the mariner accom- 
plished the voyage between the two ports in two or three days. 

3 "Philosophumena," book ix. Tertulliari corroborates the charges of 
Hippolytus. See " De Pudicitia," cap i. 

3 We know, however, that, long after this period, married bishops were 
to be found almost everywhere. One of the most eminent martyrs in the 
Diocletian persecution was a bishop who had a wife and children. See 
Eusebius, viii. c. 9. Clemens Romanus, reputed one of the early bishops of 
the Western capital, speaks as a married man. See his " Epistle to the 
Corinthians," §21. 
21 



322 ROMAN BISHOPS MARTYRED. 

before the fall of the Western Empire, there is the following 
singular record : " Petronia, a deacon's wife, the type of mod- 
esty. In this place I lay my bones ; spare your tears, dear hus- 
band and daughters, and believe that it is forbidden to weep 
for one who lives in God." ' " Here," says another epitaph, 
" Susanna, the happy daughter of the late Presbyter Gabinus, 
lies in peace along with her father." 2 In the Lapidarian Gal- 
lery of the Papal palace, the curious visitor may still read other 
epitaphs of the married ministers of Rome. 

Though the Gospel continued to make great progress in the 
metropolis, there was no city of the Empire in which it en- 
countered, from the very first, such steady and powerful oppo- 
sition. The Sovereign, being himself the Supreme Pontiff of 
Paganism, was expected to resent, as a personal indignity, any 
attempt to weaken its influence ; and the other great function- 
aries of idolatry, who all resided in the capital, were bound by 
the ties of office to resist the advancement of Christianity. 
The old aristocracy disliked everything in the shape of relig- 
ious innovation, for they believed that the glory of their coun- 
try was inseparably connected with an adherence to the wor- 
ship of the gods of their ancestors. Thus it was that the in- 
tolerance of the State was always felt with peculiar severity at 
the seat of government. Exactly in the middle of the third 
century a persecution of unusual violence burst upon the Ro- 
man Church. Fabian, whose appointment to the bishopric 
took place, as already related, under such extraordinary circum- 
stances, soon fell a victim to the storm. After his martyrdom, 
the whole community over which he presided was paralyzed 
with terror ; and sixteen months passed away before any suc- 
cessor was elected ; for Decius, the tyrant who ruled the Ro- 
man world, had proclaimed his determination rather to suffer 
a competitor for his throne than a bishop for his chief city. 3 
A veritable rival was quickly forthcoming to prove the false- 
hood of his gasconade; for when Julius Valens disputed his 

1 Maitland, pp. 191-193. These inscriptions may be found also in Ar- 
inghi, i. 421, 419. 

2 Aringhi, ii. p. 288; Rome, 1651. 

3 Cyprian to Antonianus, Epist. lii., p. 151. 



STATISTICS OF THE ROMAN CHURCH. 323 

title to the Empire, Decius was obliged, by the pressure of 
weightier cares, to withdraw his attention from the concerns 
of the Roman Christians. During the lull in the storm of 
persecution, Cornelius was chosen bishop ; but after an official 
life of little more than a year, he was thrown into confinement. 
His death in prison was occasioned by harsh treatment. The 
episcopate of his successor, Lucius, was even shorter than his 
own, for he was martyred about six months after his election. 1 
Stephen, who was now promoted to the vacant chair, did not 
long retain possession of it ; for though we have no reliable in- 
formation as to the manner of his death, it is certain that he 
occupied the bishopric only between four and five years. His 
successor, Xystus, in less than twelve months finished his course 
by martyrdom. 2 Thus, in a period of eight years, Rome lost 
no less than five bishops, at least four of whom were cut down 
by persecution ; of these, Cornelius and Stephen, by far the 
most distinguished, were interred in the cemetery of Callistus. 
There is still extant the fragment of a letter written by Cor- 
nelius, furnishing a curious statistical account of the strength 
of the Roman Church at this period. 3 According to this ex- 
cellent authority it contained forty-six presbyters, seven dea- 
cons, seven sub-deacons, forty-two acolyths, fifty-two others 
who were either exorcists, readers, or door-keepers, and up- 
wards of fifteen hundred besides, who were in indigent cir- 
cumstances, and of whom widows constituted a large pro- 
portion. All these poor persons were maintained by the lib- 
erality of their fellow-worshippers. Rome, as we have seen, 
was the birth-place of prelacy ; and other ecclesiastical organ- 
isms unknown to the New Testament may also be traced to 
the same locality, for here we read for the first time of such 
officials as the acolyths. 4 We may infer from the details sup- 

1 Cyprian speaks of " the blessed Martyrs, Cornelius and Lucius." Epist. 
Ixvii. p. 250. 

2 See Cyprian's "Epistle to Successus," where it is stated that "Xystus 
was martyred in the cemetery [the catacombs] on the eighth of the Ides of 
August, and with him four deacons." 

3 This fragment may be found in Euseb. vi. 43. 

4 For an account of their duties see Period ii„ sec. Hi., chap. x. 



324 SCHISM OF NOVATIAN. 

plied by the letter of Cornelius, that there were now fourteen 
congregations ' of the faithful in the great city ; and its Chris- 
tian population has been estimated at fifty thousand. No 
wonder that the chief pastor of such a multitude of zealous 
disciples, all residing in his capital, awakened the jealousy of a 
suspicious Emperor. ^ 

A schism, which continued for generations to exert an un- 
happy influence, commenced in the metropolis during the 
short episcopate of Cornelius. The leader of this secession 
was Novatian, a man of blameless character, 2 and a presbyter 
of the Roman Church. In the Decian persecution many had 
been terrified into temporary conformity to paganism ; and 
this austere ecclesiastic maintained that persons who had so 
sadly compromised themselves, were, on no account whatever, 
to be readmitted to communion. When he found that he 
could not prevail on his brethren to adopt this unrelenting 
discipline, he permitted himself to be ordained bishop in op- 
position to Cornelius, and became the founder of a separate 
society, known as the sect of the Novatians. As he denied 
the validity of the ordinance previously administered, he re- 
baptized his converts, and exhibited otherwise a miserably 
contracted spirit ; but many sympathized with him in his 
views, and Novatian bishops were soon established in various 
parts of the Empire. 

v Immediately after the rise of this sect, a controversy relative 
to the propriety of rebaptizing heretics brought the Church of 

1 According to some manuscripts, there were, not forty-six, but forty-two 
presbyters, seven deacons, seven sub-deacons, and forty -two acolyths. At a 
later period, we find three presbyters connected with each Roman church. 
There were fourteen regions in the city, and supposing a congregation in 
each, there were now three presbyters, one deacon or sub-deacon, and three 
acolyths belonging to each church. See Blondel's " Apologia," p. 224. Mr. 
Cooper (" Free Church of Ancient Christendom," p. 293, note, 2d edit.) has 
remarked that, according to the Martyrium Novatiani, there were only nine 
presbyters at Rome about a year before the date of the letter of Cornelius, 
and conjectures that the clerical ranks had meanwhile been largely recruited 
from the confessors. 

* Cornelius (Euseb. vi. 43) calls him " a malicious beast," but he writes 
under a feeling of deep mortification. 



THE CHURCH ON THE ROCK. 325 

Rome into collision with many Christian communities in 
Africa and Asia Minor. The discussion, which did not event- 
uate in any fresh schism, is chiefly remarkable for the firm 
stand now made against the assumptions of the great Bishop of 
the West. Whefn Stephen, who was opposed to rebaptism, 
discovered that he could not induce the Asiatics and Africans 
to come over to his sentiments, he rashly tried to overbear them 
by declaring that he would shut them out from his com- 
munion ; but his antagonists treated the threat merely as an 
empty display of insolence. " What strife and contention 
hast thou awakened in the Churches of the whole world, O 
Stephen," said one of his opponents, " and how great sin hast 
thou accumulated when thou didst cut thyself off from so many 
flocks ! Deceive not thyself, for he is truly the schismatic 
who has made himself an apostate from the communion of the 
unity of the Church. For whilst thou thinkest that all may 
be excommunicated by thee, thou hast excommunicated thy- 
self alone from all." 1 v 

When the apostle of the circumcision said to his Master — 
" Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," Jesus re- 
plied, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood 
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." 
To this emphatic acknowledgment of the faith of His dis- 
ciple our Lord added the memorable words, "And I say also 
unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build 
my church, and the»gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 2 
As the word Peter signifies a stone* this address admits of a 
very obvious and satisfactory exposition. " Thou art," said 
Christ to the apostle, "a lively stone 4 of the spiritual struct- 
ure I erect ; and upon this rock on which thy faith is estab- 
lished, as witnessed by thy good confession, I will build my 
Church ; and though the rains of affliction may descend, and 

1 Firmilian, " Cypriani Epistolae," Ixxv. 2 Matt. xvi. 16-18. 

3 John i. 42. 

4 See 1 Peter ii. 5. Peter adds, as if to illustrate Matt xvi. 18 — "Where- 
fore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold I lay in Zion a chief cor- 
ner stone, elect, precious ; and he that believeth on him shall not be con- 
founded. " 1 Pet. ii. 6. 



326 THE CHURCH BUILT ON PETER. 

the floods of danger may come, and the winds of temptation 
may blow, and beat upon this house, it shall remain immov- 
able/ because it rests upon an impregnable foundation." But 
a different interpretation was already gaining wide currency ; 
for though Peter had been led to deny Christ with oaths and 
imprecations, the rapid growth and preponderating wealth of 
the Roman bishopric, of which the apostle was said to be the 
founder, had now induced many to believe that he was the 
Rock of Salvation, the enduring basis on which the living temple 
of God was to be reared ! *Tertullian and Cyprian, in the third 
century the two most eminent fathers of the West, counte- 
nanced the exposition ; 2 and though both these writers were 
lamentably deficient in critical sagacity, men of inferior stand- 
ing were slow to impugn the verdict of such champions of the 
faith. Thus it was that a false gloss of Scripture was already 
enthralling the mind of Christendom ; and Stephen boldly re- 
newed the attempt at domination commenced by his prede- 
cessor, Victor. His opponents deserved far greater credit for 
the sturdy independence with which they upheld their indi- 
vidual rights than for the scriptural skill with which they un- 
masked the sophistry of a delusive theory; for all their reason- 
ings were enervated and vitiated by their stupid admission of 
the claims of the chair of Peter as the rock on which the Church 
was supposed to rest. 3 This second effort of Rome to establish 
her ascendency was, indeed, a failure ; but the misinterpreta- 
tion of Holy Writ, by which it was encouraged, was not ef- 
fectively corrected and exposed ; and thus the great Western 

1 Matt. vii. 24, 25. 

" See Tertullian, " De Praescrip." xxii. ; and Cyprian to Cornelius, Epist. 
lv., p. 178, where he says, " Petrus, tamen, super quern asdificata ab eodem 
Domino fuerat ecclesia." See also the same epistle, pp. 182, 183, and many 
other passages. 

3 Thus Cyprian in his letter to Quintus (Epist. lxxi., p. 273) makes the fol- 
lowing awkward attempt to get over the difficulty : " Nam nee Petrus, 
quern primuni Dominus elegit, et super quern cedificavit ecclesiam suam 
cum secum Paulus de circumcisione postmodum disceptaret, vindicavit sibi 
aliquid insolenter aut arroganter assumpsit, ut dicer et se primatum tenere et 
obtemperari a novellis et poster is sibi pot ius oportere." 



POWER OF THE ROMAN BISHOP. 327 

prelate was left at liberty, at another more favorable opportu- 
nity, to wrest the Scriptures to the destruction of the Church. 

From the middle of the third century, the authority of the 
Roman bishops advanced apace. The magnanimity with 
which so many of them then encountered martyrdom elicited 
general admiration ; and the divisions caused by the schism of 
Novatian supplied them with a specious apology for enlarg- 
ing their jurisdiction. The argument from the necessity of 
unity, urged so successfully for the creation of a bishop up- 
wards of a hundred years before, could now be adduced with 
equal plausibility for the erection of a metropolitan ; and, from 
this date, these prelates exercised archiepiscopal power. Sev- 
enty years afterward, or at the Council of Nice, 1 the ecclesias- 
tical rule of the Primate of Rome was recognized by the 
bishops of the ten suburbicarian provinces, including no small 
portion of Italy. 2 

For the last forty years of the third century the Church 
was free from persecution, and, during this long period of 
repose, the great Western see enjoyed an unwonted measure 
of outward prosperity. Its religious services were conducted 
with increasing splendor, and distressed brethren in very dis- 
tant countries shared the fruits of its munificence. 3 In the 
reign of Gallienus, when the Goths burst into the Empire and 
devastated Asia Minor, the bishop of Rome transmitted a 
large sum of money for the release of the Christians who had 
fallen into the hands of the barbarians. 4 A few years after- 
ward, when Paul of Samosata was deposed for heresy, and 
when, on his refusal to surrender the property of the Church 
of Antioch, an application was made to the Emperor Aure- 
lian for his interference, that prince submitted the matter in 
dispute to the decision of Dionysius of Rome and the other 

1 a.d. 325. 

2 The Suburbicarian Provinces comprehended the three islands of Sicily, 
Corsica, and Sardinia, and the whole of the southern part of Italy, includ- 
ing Naples and nearly all the territory now belonging to Tuscany and the 
States of the Church. See Bingham, iii. p. 20. 

3 In a.d. 254.. the bishop of Rome sent assistance to Christians in Syria 
and Arabia. See Euseb. vii. 5. 

* Basil, Ep. 220. 



> 



328 EARLY ROMAN BISHOPS. 

bishops of Italy. 1 This reference, in which the position of 
the Roman prelate was publicly recognized, perhaps for the 
first time, by a Roman Emperor, added vastly to the impor- 
tance of the metropolitan see in public estimation. Christian- 
ity in the following century became the religion of the State, 
and the bishop of the chief city was thus prepared for the 
high position to which he was suddenly promoted. 
v None of the early bishops of Rome were distinguished for 
their mental accomplishments ; and though they are com- 
monly reputed the founders of the Latin Church, it is well 
known that, for nearly two hundred years, they all wrote and 
spoke the Greek language. The name Pope, which they have 
since appropriated, was originally common to all pastors.* 
For the first three centuries almost every question relating to 
them is involved in much mystery ; and, as we approach the 
close of this period, the difficulty of unravelling their per- 
plexed traditions rather increases than diminishes. Even the 
existence of some who are said to have now flourished has 
been considered doubtful. 3 It is alleged that the see was 
vacant for upwards of three years and a half during the Dio- 
cletian persecution in the beginning of the fourth century ; * 
but even this point has not been very clearly ascertained. 
The Roman bishopric was by far the most important in the 
Church ; and the obscurity which overhangs its early history 
can not but be embarrassing to those who seek to establish a 
title to the ministry by attempting to trace it up through such 
dark annals. 

On looking back over the first three centuries, we may re- 
mark how much the chairman of the Roman eldership, at the 
time of the death of the Apostle John, differed from the prel- 

1 Euseb. vii. 50. 

2 Thus we read of " the blessed Pope Cyprian," bishop of Carthage. 
Cyprian, Epist. ii., p. 25. The name was sometimes given to the head of a 
monastery. In the Catacombs there was found an inscription probably to 
the memory of a Pope of this description. See Maitland, p. 185. See also 
Routh's " Reliquise," iii. pp. 256, 265. 

3 See Bower, " Marcellus," 29th Bishop. 

4 That is, from the autumn of a.d. 304 to the spring of A.D. 308. See 
Burton's "Lectures on 'the Ecc. Hist, of the First Three Cent." ii. p. 433. 



RISE OF THE PAPACY. 329 

ate who filled his place two hundred years afterward. The 
former was the servant of the presbyters, and appointed to 
carry out their decisions ; the latter was their master, and 
entitled to require their submission. The former presided 
over the ministers of, perhaps, three or four comparatively 
poor congregations dispirited by recent persecution ; the lat- 
ter had the charge of at least five-and-twenty flourishing city 
churches, 1 together with all the bishops in all the surrounding 
territory. ' In eventful times an individual of transcendent 
talent, such as Pepin or Napoleon, has adroitly vaulted into a 
throne ; but the bishop of Rome was indebted for his gradual 
elevation and his ultimate ascendency neither to extraordi- 
nary genius nor superior erudition, but to a combination of cir- 
cumstances of unprecedented rarity. His position furnished 
him with peculiar facilities for acquiring influence. Whilst 
the city in which he was located was the largest in the world, 
it was also the most opulent and the most powerful. He was 
continually coming in contact with men of note in the Church 
from all parts of the Empire ; and he had frequent opportu- 
nities of obliging these strangers by various offices of kind- 
ness. He thus, too, possessed means of ascertaining the state 
of the Christian interest in every land, and of diffusing his 
own sentiments under singularly propitious circumstances. 
When he was fast rising into power, it was alleged that he 
was constituted chief pastor of the Church by Christ himself ; 
and a text of Scripture was quoted which was supposed to 
endorse his title. For a time no one cared to challenge its 
application; for meanwhile his precedence was but nominal, 
and those who were competent to point out the delusion, had 
no wish to give offence, by attacking the fond conceit of a 
friendly and prosperous prelate. But when the scene changed, 

1 In the life of Marcellus we read of so many places of worship in Rome. 
See "Hist. Platinae De Vitis Pontif. Roman." p. 40, Colonias, 1593. Opta- 
tus speaks of forty churches in Rome at this time ; but he is probably mis- 
taken as to the date. There may have been so many after the establish- 
ment of Christianity by Constantine. There were only fifty churches in the 
Western capital in the beginning of the fifth century. See Neander, i. 276 ; 
edit. Edinburgh, 1847. 



33^ ROME WANTS THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE. 

and when the Empire found another capital, the acumen of 
the bishop of the rival metropolis soon discovered a sounder 
exposition ; and Chrysostom of Constantinople, at once the 
greatest preacher and the best commentator of antiquity, 
ignored the folly of Tertullian and of Cyprian. " Upon the 
rock," says he, " that is, upon the faith of the apostle's con- 
fession," * the Church is built. " Christ said that He would 
build His Church on Peter's confession." 2 Soon afterward, 
the greatest divine connected with the Western Church, and 
the most profound theologian among the fathers, pointed out, 
still more distinctly, the true meaning of the passage. " Our 
Lord declares," says Augustine, " On this rock I will found 
my Church, because Peter had said : Thou art the Christ, the 
Son of the living God. On this rock which thou hast confessed, 
He declares I will build my Church, for Christ was the rock 
on whose foundation Peter himself was built; for other foun- 
dation hath no man laid than that which is laid, which is Christ 
Jesus." 3 In the Italian capital, the words on which the pow- 
er of the Papacy is understood to rest are exhibited in gigan- 
tic letters within the dome of St. Peter's ; but their exhibi- 
tion only proves that the Church of Rome has lost the key of 
knowledge ; for, though she would fain appeal to Scripture, 
she shows that she does not understand the meaning of its 
testimony ; and, closing her eyes against the light supplied 
by the best and wisest of the fathers, she persists in adhering 
to a false interpretation. ' 

1 In Matt. xvi. 18. Opera, torn, ii., p. 344; edit. Eton, 1612. 

2 In John i. 50. Opera, torn, ii., p. 637 ; edit. Eton, 161 2. 

9 " In Johann. Evang. Tractat." 124, § 5. Opera, torn, ix., c. 572. Augus- 
tine had before held the more fashionable view. See "Barrow on the 
Pope's Supremacy," by Dr. M'Crie, p. 78. 



SECTION II. 

THE LITERATURE AND THEOLOGY OF THE CHURCH. 



CHAPTER I. 
THE ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS. 

By "the Fathers" we understand the writers of the ancient 
Christian Church. The name is, however, of rather vague ap- 
plication ; for, though generally employed to designate only 
the ecclesiastical authors of the first six centuries, it is extended 
occasionally to distinguished theologians who flourished in 
the middle ages. 1 

The fathers of the second and third centuries have a strong 
claim on our attention. Living on the verge of apostolic 
times, they were acquainted with the state of the Church when 
it had recently passed from under the care of its inspired 
founders; and, as witnesses to its early traditions, their testi- 
mony is of peculiar value. But the period before us produced 
comparatively few authors, and a considerable portion of its 
literature has perished. There are modern divines, such as 
Calvin and Baxter, who have each left behind a more volumin- 
ous array of publications than survives from all the fathers of 
these two hundred years. Origen was by far the most pro- 
lific of the writers who flourished during this interval, but the 
greater number of his productions have been lost ; and yet 
those which remain, if translated into English, would amount 
to nearly triple the bulk of our authorized version of the 

1 Roman Catholic writers include authors who lived as late as the thir- 
teenth century under the designation. 

(33i) 



332 JUSTIN MARTYR. 

Bible. His extant works are, however, more extensive than 
all the other memorials of this most interesting section of the 
history of the Church. 

Among the earliest ecclesiastical writers after the close of 
the first century is Polycarp of Smyrna. He is said to have 
been a disciple of the Apostle John, and hence he is known 
as one of the Apostolic Fathers. 1 An epistle of his addressed 
to the Philippians, and designed to correct certain vices and 
errors which had been making their appearance, is still pre- 
served. It was written toward the middle of the second 
century; 2 its style is simple; and its general tone worthy of a 
man who had enjoyed apostolic tuition. Its venerable author 
suffered martyrdom about A.D. 155, 3 at the advanced age of 
eighty-six. 4 

Justin Martyr was contemporary with Polycarp. He was 
a native of Samaria, and a Gentile by birth ; he had travelled 
much ; he possessed a well-cultivated mind ; and he had made 
himself acquainted with the various systems of philosophy 
which were then current. He could derive no satisfaction 
from the wisdom of the pagan theorists ; but, one day, as he 
walked, somewhat sad and pensive, near the sea-shore, a casual 
meeting with an aged stranger led him to turn his thoughts 
to the Christian revelation. The individual with whom he 
had this solitary and important interview, was a member and, 
perhaps, a minister of the Church. After pointing out to 
Justin the folly of mere theorizing, and recommending him to 
study the Old Testament Scriptures, as well on account of 
their great antiquity as their intrinsic worth, he proceeded to 

1 The references in this work to the Apostolic Fathers by Cotelerius are 
to the Amsterdam Edition, folio, 1724. 

2 This is the date assigned to it by Bunsen. " Hippolytus," i. 309. It is 
not probable that Polycarp was at the head of the eldership of Smyrna much 
earlier. See Period hi., sec. iii., chap, v., note. 

3 According to Ussher iii., A.D. 169. 

4 See Pearson's " Minor Works," ii. 531. The date A.D. 167 is given in 
the Chronicon of Eusebius; but recent investigations have shown that the 
correct chronology is A.D. 155. See Bishop Lightfoot in the Contemporary 
Review for May, 1875, p. 838. 



JUSTIN MARTYR. 333 

expatiate on the nature and excellence of the Gospel. 1 The 
impression made upon the mind of the young student was 
never afterward effaced ; he became a decided Christian ; and 
finished his career by martyrdom. 

Justin is the first writer whose contributions to ecclesiastical 
literature are of considerable extent. Some of the works 
ascribed to him are the productions of others ; but there is no 
reason to question the genuineness of his Dialogue with Try- 
pho the Jew, and of the two Apologies addressed to the Em- 
perors. 2 Though the meeting with Trypho is said to have 
occurred at Ephesus, it is now, perhaps, impossible to deter- 
mine whether it ever actually took place, or whether the Dia- 
logue is only the report of an imaginary discussion. It serves, 
however, to illustrate the mode of argument then adopted in 
the controversy between the Jews and the disciples, and 
throws much light on the state of Christian theology. Anto- 
ninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius were, probably, the Emperors 
to whom the Apologies are addressed. In these appeals to 
imperial justice the calumnies against the Christians are re- 
futed, whilst the simplicity of their worship and the purity of 
their morality are impressively described. 

Justin, even after his conversion, still wore the philosopher's 
cloak, and continued to cherish an undue regard for the wis- 
dom of the pagan sages. His mind never was completely 
emancipated from the influence of a system of false meta- 
physics ; and thus it was that, whilst his views of various doc- 
trines of the Gospel remained confused, his allusions to them 
are equivocal, if not contradictory. But it has been well re- 
marked that conscience, rather than science, guided many of the 
fathers; and the case of Justin demonstrates the truth of the 
observation. He possessed an extensive knowledge of the 
Scriptures ; and though his theological views were not so ex- 
act or so perspicuous as they might have been, had he been 
trained up from infancy in the Christian faith, or had he 
studied the controversies which subsequently arose, his creed 

1 The original narrative may be found in the Dialogue with Trypho. 

2 The references to Justin in this work are to the Paris folio edition of 
1615. 



334 BARNABAS. 

was substantially evangelical. He had received the truth " in 
the love of it," and he counted not his life dear in the service 
of his Divine Master. 

The Epistle to Diognetus, frequently included among the 
works of Justin, is the production of an earlier writer. Its 
author, who styles himself "a disciple of apostles," designed 
by it to promote the conversion of a friend ; his own views of 
divine truth are comparatively correct and clear; and in no 
uninspired memorial of antiquity are the peculiar doctrines of 
the Gospel exhibited with greater propriety and beauty. Ap- 
pended also to the common editions of the works of Justin 
are the remains of a few somewhat later writers, namely, 
Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, and Hermas. Tatian was 
a disciple of Justin; 1 Athenagoras was a learned man of 
Athens ; Theophilus is said to have been one of the pastors 
of Antioch ; and of Hermas nothing whatever is known. The 
tracts of these authors relate almost entirely to the contro- 
versy between Christianity and Paganism. Whilst they point 
out the folly and falsehood of the accusations so frequently 
preferred against the brethren, they press the Gospel on the 
acceptance of the Gentiles with much earnestness, and sup- 
port its claims by a great variety of arguments. 

The tract known as the Epistle of Barnabas, was composed 
in A.D. 135. 2 It is the production of a convert from Judaism 
who took special pleasure in allegorical interpretations of 
Scripture. Hermas, the author of the little work called Pas- 
tor or The Shepherd, is a writer of much the same character. 
He was the brother of Pius, 3 who flourished about the middle 

1 He afterward became the founder of a sect noted for its austere disci- 
pline. His followers used water, instead of wine, at the celebration of the 
Lord's Supper. They lived in celibacy, and observed rigorous fasts. 

2 The writer says of the temple (chap, xvi.), " It is now destroyed by their 
(the Jews) enemies, and the servants of their enemies are building it up." 
Jerusalem was rebuilt by Hadrian about A.D. 135, and the name fiLX\d, given 
to it. 

3 Two short letters ascribed to Pius are mentioned Period ii., sec. iii., 
chap. vii. For a long time Barnabas, the author of the epistle, was absurdly 
confounded with the companion of Paul mentioned Acts xiii. 1, and else- 
where ; and Hermas was supposed to be the individual saluted in Rom. xvi. 



IREN^US. 335 

of the second century, and who was, perhaps, the first or 
second individual who was officially designated Bishop of 
Rome. The writings of Papias, pastor of Hierapolis in the 
time of Polycarp, are no longer extant. 1 The works of 
Hegesippus, of a somewhat later date, and treating of the 
subject of ecclesiastical history, have also disappeared. 2 

Irenceus of Lyons is the next writer who claims our special 
notice. He was originally connected with Asia Minor; and 
in his youth he is said to have enjoyed the tuition of Polycarp 
of Smyrna. We can not tell when he left his native country, 
or what circumstances led him to settle on the banks of the 
Rhone ; but we know that, toward the termination of the 
reign of Marcus Aurelius, he was appointed by the Gallic 
Christians to visit the Roman Church on a mission of im- 
portance. The Celtic language, still preserved in the Gaelic, or 
Irish, was then spoken in France, 3 and Irenaeus found it neces- 
sary to qualify himself for the duties of a preacher among the 
heathen by studying the barbarous dialect. His zeal, energy, 
and talent were duly appreciated ; soon after the death of 
the aged Pothinus he became the chief pastor of Lyons ; and 
for many years he exercised considerable influence through- 
out the whole of the Western Church. When the Paschal 
controversy created such excitement, and when Victor of 
Rome threatened to rend the Christian commonwealth by his 
impetuous and haughty bearing, Irenaeus interposed, and, to 
some extent, succeeded in moderating the violence of the 

14. Hence these two writers have been called, like Polycarp and others, 
Apostolic Fathers. As to the date of the Pastor of Hermas, see Hefele's 
" Christian Councils," by Clark, p. 79. 

1 Eusebius, who has preserved a few fragments of this author, describes 
him as a very credulous person. See his " Hist." iii. 39. 

2 In the text it has not been considered necessary to mention all the 
writers, however small their contributions to our ecclesiastical literature, 
who lived during the second and third centuries. Hence, Melito of Sardis, 
Caius of Rome, and many others, are unnoticed. The remaining frag- 
ments of these early ecclesiastical writers may be found in Routh's " Reli- 
quiae," and elsewhere. 

3 rj/LLuv, ruv h KeAroZf SiarpcfSovTcov nal irepl fiapPapov 6ca2.eKTOv to nXeiOTOV 
acxohov/nevuv. — Contra Hcereses, lib. i. Praef. 



336 TERTULLIAN. 

Italian prelate. He was the author of several works, 1 but his 
only extant production is a treatise " Against Heresies." It 
is divided into five books, four of which exist only in a Latin 
version ; 2 and it contains a lengthened refutation of the Valen- 
tinians and other Gnostics. 

Irenaeus is commonly called the disciple of Polycarp ; but 
he was also under the tuition of a less intelligent preceptor, 
Papias of Hierapolis. 3 This teacher, who has been already 
mentioned, and who was the author of a work now lost, enti- 
tled " The Explanations of the Discourses of the Lord," is 
noted as the earliest 'ecclesiastical writer who held the doc- 
trine of the personal reign of Christ at Jerusalem during the 
millennium. " These views," says Eusebius, " he appears to 
have adopted in consequence of having misunderstood the 

apostolic narratives For he was a man of very slender 

intellect, as is evident from his discourses." 4 His pupil, Ire- 
naeus, possessed a much superior capacity ; but even his writ- 
ings are not destitute of puerilities ; and he derived some of 
the errors to be found in them from his weak-minded teacher. 8 

Irenaeus died about the beginning of the third century ; and, 
shortly before that date, by far the most vigorous and acute 
writer who had yet appeared among the fathers, began to at- 
tract attention. This was the celebrated Tertullian. He 
was originally a heathen, 8 and he seems in early life to have 
been engaged in the profession of a lawyer. At that time, as 
afterward, there was constant intercourse between Rome and 
Carthage ; T Tertullian was well acquainted with both these great 

1 The references to Irenaeus in this work are to Stieren's erlition of 1853. 

2 Wordsworth has remarked that in the " Philosophumena " of Hippolytus 
we have some of the lost text of Irenaeus. St. Hippolytus, p.' 15. 

3 Such is the testimony of Jerome. See Cave's " Life of Irenaeus." 

4 Euseb. " Hist." iii. 39. 

5 Irenaeus adopted the millenarianism of Papias. See Euseb. iii. 39. 

6 This is evident from his own statements. See his " Apology," c. 18, and 
" De Spectaculis," c. 19. The references to Tertullian in this work are either 
to the edition of Oehler of 1853, or to that of Rigaltius of 1675. 

7 According to some, the population of Carthage at this time amounted 
to hundreds of thousands. " The intercourse between Carthage and Rome, 
on account of the corn trade alone, was probably more regular and rapid 



TERTULLIAN. 337 

cities ; and he had resided several years in the capital of the 
Empire. 1 But most of his public life was spent in Carthage, 
the place of his birth. In the beginning of the third century- 
clerical celibacy was beginning to be fashionable ; and yet 
Tertullian, though a presbyter, 2 was married, for two of his 
tracts are addressed To his Wife ; and his works attest that 
then no law of the Church prohibited ecclesiastics from enter- 
ing into wedlock. 

The extant productions of this writer are numerous. Of 
some pieces, the most accomplished scholars have found it 
difficult to furnish at once a literal and an intelligible version.* 
His style is harsh, his transitions are abrupt, and his innuen- 
does and allusions most perplexing. He was a man of very 
bilious temperament, who could scarcely distinguish a theo- 
logical opponent from a personal enemy ; for he pours forth 
on those who differ from him whole torrents of sarcasm and 
invective. 4 His strong passion, acting on a fervid imagination, 
completely overpowered his judgment ; and hence he. deals 
so largely in exaggeration that, as to many matters of fact, 
we can not safely depend upon his testimony. His tone is 
dictatorial and dogmatic ; and, though we can not doubt his 
piety, we feel that his spirit is somewhat repulsive and ungen- 
ial. Whilst he was sadly deficient in sagacity, he was very 
much the creature of impulse ; and thus it was that he was so 

than with any other part of the Empire." — Milmaris Latin Christianity, 
i. p. 47- 

1 See Euseb. ii. 2, 25. 

2 Such is the testimony of Jerome, who asserts farther that the treatment 
he received from the clergy of Rome induced him to leave that city. 

3 Such as the tracts " De Pallio" and " De Jejuniis." Since the appear- 
ance of the 1st edition of this work, a translation of the works of Tertullian 
has been published among the Ante-Nicene fathers by the Messrs. Clark, 
Edinburgh. 

4 As a choice specimen of his vituperative ability his denunciation of Mar- 
cion may be quoted : " Sed nihil tarn barbarum ac triste apud Pontum quam 
quod illic Marcion natus est, Scytha.tetrior, Hamaxobio instabilior, Massa- 
geta inhumanior, Amazona audacior, nubilo obscurior, hieme frigidior, gelu 
fragilior, Istro fallacior, Caucaso abruptior." — Adversus Marcio?iem, lib. i., 
c. 1. 

22 



338 TERTULLIAN. 

superstitious, so bigoted, and so choleric. But he was, beyond 
question, possessed of erudition and of genius ; and when he 
advocates a right principle, he can expound, defend, and illus- 
trate it with great ability and eloquence. 

Tertullian is commonly known as the earliest of the Latin 
fathers. 1 The writer who first attempted to supply the rulers 
of the world with a Christian literature in their own tongue 
encountered a task of much difficulty. It was no easy matter 
to conduct theological controversies in a language which was 
not remarkable for flexibility, and which had never before 
been employed in such discussions ; and Tertullian often 
found it necessary to coin unwonted forms of expression, or 
rather to invent an ecclesiastical nomenclature. The ponder- 
ous Latin, hitherto accustomed to speak only of Jupiter and 
the gods, engages somewhat awkwardly in its new vocation ; 
and yet contrives to proclaim, with wonderful power, the great 
thoughts for which it now finds utterance. Several years 
after his appearance as an author, Tertullian lapsed into Mon- 
tanism — a species of heresy peculiarly attractive to a man of 
his rugged and austere character. Some of his works bear 
clear traces of this change of sentiment ; but others furnish no 
internal evidences warranting us to pronounce decisively re- 
specting the date of their composition. Though he identified 
himself with a party under the ban of ecclesiastical proscrip- 
tion, his works still continued to be held in high repute, and 
to be perused with avidity by those who valued themselves 
on their zeal for orthodoxy. It is recorded of one of the most 
influential of the Catholic bishops of the third century that 
he read a portion of them daily ; and, when calling for his 
favorite author, he is reported to have said, " Give me the 
Master!'* 

Tertullian flourished at a period when ecclesiastical usurpa- 
tion was beginning to produce some of its bitter fruits, and 
when religion was rapidly degenerating from its primitive puri- 

1 Victor of Rome, who was contemporary with Tertullian, is said to have 
written in Latin, but the extant letters ascribed to him are spurious. 

2 Such, according to Jerome, was the practice of Cyprian. 



CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. 339 

ty. 1 His works, which treat of a great variety of topics inter- 
esting to the Christian student, throw immense light on the 
state of the Church in his generation. His best known pro- 
duction is his Apology, in which he pleads the cause of the 
persecuted disciples with consummate talent, and urges upon 
the State the equity and the wisdom of toleration. He ex- 
pounds the doctrine of the Trinity more lucidly than any pre- 
ceding writer; he treats of Prayer, of Repentance, and of 
Baptism ; he takes up the controversy with the Jews ; 2 and 
he assails the Valentinians and other heretics. But the way 
of salvation by faith was very indistinctly apprehended by 
him, so that he can not be safely trusted as a theologian. He 
had evidently no clear conception of the place which works 
ought to occupy according to the scheme of the Gospel ; and 
hence he sometimes speaks as if pardon could be purchased 
by penance, by fasting, or by martyrdom. 

Clement of Alexandria was contemporary with Tertullian. 
Like him, he was a Gentile by birth ; but we know nothing of 
the circumstances connected with his conversion. In early 
times Alexandria was one of the great marts of literature and 
science ; its citizens were noted for their intellectual culture ; 
and, when a Church was formed there, learned men began to 
pass over to the new religion in considerable numbers. It 
was, in consequence, deemed expedient to establish an insti- 
tute where catechumens of this class, before admission to bap- 
tism, could be instructed in the faith by some well-qualified 
teacher. The plan of the seminary was gradually enlarged ; 
and it soon supplied education to candidates for the ministry. 
Toward the close of the second century, Pantaenus, a distin- 
guished scholar, had the charge of it : and Clement, who had 
been his pupil, 3 became his successor as its president. Some 

1 He died at an advanced age, but the date of his demise can not be accu- 
rately determined. Most of his works were written between A.D. 194 and 
a.d. 217. 

2 The part of the work " Adversus Judaeos," from the beginning of the 
ninth chapter, is taken chiefly from the third book of the Xreatise against 
Marcion, and has been added by another hand. 

s Euseb. v. 11. 



340 HIPPOLYTUS. 

of the works of this writer have perished, and his only extant 
productions are a discourse entitled " What rich man shall be 
saved ? " his Address to the Greeks or Gentiles, his Paedagogue, 
and his Stromata. The hortatory Address is designed to win 
over the pagans from idolatry ; the Paedagogue directs to Je- 
sus, or the Word, as the great Teacher, and supplies converts 
with practical precepts for their guidance ; whilst, in the Stro- 
mata, or Miscellanies, we have a description of what he calls 
the Gnostic or perfect Christian. He here takes occasion 
to attack those who, in his estimation, were improperly desig- 
nated Gnostics, such as Basilides, Valentine, Marcion, and 
others. 

Clement, as is evident from his writings, was extensively 
acquainted with profane literature. But he formed quite too 
high an estimate of the value of the heathen philosophy, and 
allegorized Scripture in a way as dangerous as it was absurd. 
By the serpent which deceived Eve, according to Clement, 
"pleasure, an earthly vfce which creeps upon the belly, is alle- 
gorically represented." ' Moses, speaking allegorically, if we 
may believe this writer, called the Divine Wisdom the tree of 
life planted in paradise ; by which paradise we may under- 
stand the world, in which all the works of creation were called 
into being. 2 He even interprets the ten commandments alle- 
gorically. Thus, by adultery he understands a departure from 
the true knowledge of the Most High ; and by murder, a vio- 
lation of the truth respecting God and His eternal existence. 8 
It is easy to see how Scripture, by such a system of inter- 
pretation, might be tortured into a witness for any extrav- 
agance. 

In the early part of the third century Hippolytus of Portus 
exerted much influence by his writings. It was long believed 
that, with the exception of some fragments and a few tracts 
,of little consequence, the works of this father had ceased to 
exist ; but, as stated in a preceding chapter, 4 one of his most 

1 " Admonitio ad Gentes," Opera, p. 69. Edit. Colonise, 1688. 
8 " Stromata," book v. 

8 See Kaye's " Clement of Alexandria," p. 378. 
. 4 Period ii., sec. i., chap, v., p. 313. 



ORIGEN. 341 

important publications, the " Philosophumena, or Refutation 
of all Heresies," has been recently recovered. The reappear- 
ance of this production after so many centuries of oblivion- is 
an extraordinary fact ; and its testimony relative to historical 
transactions of deep interest connected with the early Church 
of Rome, has created quite a sensation among the students of 
ecclesiastical literature. 

Hippolytus was the disciple of Irenaeus, and one of the 
soundest theologians of his generation. His works, which are 
written in Greek, illustrate his learning, his acuteness, and his 
eloquence. His views on some matters of ecclesiastical disci- 
pline were, indeed, too rigid ; and, by a writer of the fifth 
century, 1 he has been described as an abettor of Novatianism ; 
but his zeal and piety are universally admitted. He lost his 
life in the cause of Christianity ; and though he attests the 
rjeretical teaching of two of her chief pastors, the Church of 
Rome still honors him as a saint and a martyr. 

Minucius Felix was the contemporary of Hippolytus. He 
was a Roman lawyer, and a convert from paganism. In his 
Dialogue entitled " Octavius," the respective merits of Christi- 
anity and heathenism are discussed with much vivacity. In 
point of style this little work is surpassed by none of the ec- 
clesiastical writings of the period. 

Another and a still more distinguished author, contemporary 
with Hippolytus, was ORIGEN. He was born at Alexandria 
about A.D. 185 ; his father, Leonides, who was a teacher of 
rhetoric, was a member of the Church ; and his son enjoyed 
the advantages of an excellent elementary education. Origen, 
when very young, was required daily to commit prescribed 
portions of the Word of God to memory ; and the child soon 
became intensely interested in the study of the sacred oracles. 
The questions which he proposed to his father, as he repeated 
his appointed tasks, displayed singular precocity of intellect ; 
and Leonides rejoiced exceedingly as he observed from time 
to time the growing indications of his extraordinary genius. 
But before Origen reached maturity, his good parent fell a 
victim to the intolerance of the imperial laws. In the perse- 
1 Prudentius. See Wordsworth's "Hippolytus," pp. 105-112. 



34 2 0R1GEN. 

cution under Septimius Severus, when the young scholar was 
about seventeen years of age, Leonides was put into confine- 
ment, and then beheaded. He had a wife and seven children 
who were likely to be left destitute by his death ; but Origen, 
his first-born, afraid lest his constancy should be overcome by 
the prospect of a beggared family, wrote a letter to him when 
he was in prison to encourage him to martyrdom. " Stand 
steadfast, father," said the ardent youth, " and take care not 
to desert your principles on our account." At this crisis he 
would have exposed himself to martyrdom had not his moth- 
er hid his clothes, and thus prevented him from appearing in 
public. 

When Leonides was put to death his property was confis- 
cated, and his family reduced to poverty. But Origen at- 
tracted the notice of a rich and noble lady of Alexandria, who 
received him into her house and became his patron. He did 
not, however, remain long under her roof, as he was soon able 
to earn a maintenance by teaching. He continued, mean- 
while, to apply himself with amazing industry to the acquisi- 
tion of knowledge ; and at length he began to be regarded as 
one of the most learned of the Christians. So great was his 
celebrity as a divine that, more than once during his life, whole 
synods of foreign bishops solicited his advice and interference 
in the settlement of theological controversies. 

Whilst Origen, by intense study, was constantly adding to 
his intellectual treasures, he also improved his mind by travel- 
ling. When twenty-six years of age he made a journey to 
Rome ; and he subsequently visited Arabia, Palestine, Syria, 
Asia Minor, and Greece. As he passed through Palestine in 
A.D. 228, when he was in the forty-third year of his age, he 
was ordained a presbyter by some of the bishops of that coun- 
try. He was now teacher of the catechetical school of Alex- 
andria — an office in which he had succeeded Clement — and his 
ordination by the foreign pastors gave great offence to Deme- 
trius, his own bishop. This haughty churchman was galled 
by the superior reputation of the great scholar; and Origen, 
on his return to Egypt, was exposed to an ecclesiastical per- 
secution. An indiscreet act of his youth was converted into 



ORIGEN. 343 

a formidable accusation, 1 whilst some incautious speculations 
in which he had indulged were urged as evidences of his un- 
soundness in the faith. His ordination was pronounced in- 
valid ; he was deprived of his appointment as president of the 
catechetical school, and excommunicated as a heretic. He 
now retired to Caesarea, where he spent the greater portion of 
the remainder of his life. The sentence of excommunication 
was announced by Demetrius to the Churches abroad ; but, 
though it was approved at Rome and elsewhere, it was not 
recognized in Palestine, Phcenice, Arabia, and Achaia. At 
Csesarea, Origen established a theological seminary such as 
that over which he had so long presided at Alexandria ; and 
in this institute some of the most eminent pastors of the third 
century received their education. 

This great man throughout life practiced extraordinary self- 
denial. His clothing was scarcely sufficient to protect him 
from the cold ; he slept on the ground ; he confined himself 
to the simplest fare ; and for years he persisted in going bare- 
foot. 2 But his austerities did not prevent him from acquiring 
a world-wide reputation. Pagan philosophers attended his 
lectures, and persons of the highest distinction sought his so- 
ciety. When Julia Mammaea, the mother of Alexander Sever- 
us, invited him to visit her, and when, in compliance with this 
summons, he proceeded to Antioch, 3 escorted by a military 
guard, he was an object of no little curiosity to the imperial 
courtiers. It could no longer be said that the Christians were 
an illiterate generation ; as, in all that brilliant throng sur- 
rounding the throne of the Master of the Roman world, there 
was not, perhaps, one to be compared with the poor catechist 
of Alexandria for varied and profound scholarship. But his 
theological taste was sadly vitiated by his study of the pagan 
philosophy. Clement, his early instructor, led him to enter- 
tain far too high an opinion of its excellence ; and a subse- 
quent teacher, Ammonius Saccas, the father of New Platonism, 
thoroughly imbued his mind with many of his own dangerous 

He had acted literally as described, Matt. xix. 12. 
2 Euseb. vi. 3. 3 Euseb. vi. 21. 



344 ORIGEN. 

principles. According to Ammonius all systems of religion 
and philosophy contain the elements of truth ; and it is the 
duty of the wise man to trace, out and exhibit their harmony. 
The doctrines of Plato formed the basis of his creed, and it re- 
quired no little ingenuity to show how all other theories quad- 
rated with the speculations of the Athenian sage. To estab- 
lish his views, he was obliged to draw much on his imagina- 
tion, and to adopt modes of exegesis the most extravagant 
and unwarrantable. The philosophy of Ammonius exerted a 
very pernicious influence on Origen, and seduced him into not 
a few of those errors which have contributed so greatly to 
lower his repute as a theologian. 

Origen was a most prolific author ; and, if all his works were 
still extant, they would be far more voluminous than those of 
any other of the fathers. But most of his writings have been 
lost ; and, in not a few instances, those which remain have 
reached us either in a very mutilated form, or in a garbled 
Latin version. His treatise "Against Celsus," which was com- 
posed when he was advanced in life, 1 and which is by far the 
most valuable of his existing works, has come down to us in a 
more perfect state than any of his other productions. It is a 
defence of Christianity in reply to the publication of a witty 
heathen philosopher who wrote against it in the time of the 
Antonines. 2 Of his celebrated " Hexapla," to which he de- 
voted much of his time for eight and twenty years, only some 
fragments have been preserved. This great work was under- 
taken to meet the cavils of the Jews against the Septuagint — 
the Greek translation of the Old Testament in current use in the 
days of the apostles, and still most appreciated by the Christians. 
The unbelieving Israelites pronounced it a corrupt version ; 
and, that all might have an opportunity of judging for them- 
selves, Origen exhibited the text in six consecutive columns — 
the first, containing the original Hebrew — the second, the same 
in Greek letters — and the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, four 

1 Euseb. vi. 36. 

2 He says Celsus lived in the reign of Hadrian and afterward. " Contra 
Celsum," i. § 8 ; Opera, torn i„ p. 327. The references to Origin in this work 
are to the edition of the Benedictine Delarue, 4 vols, folio. Paris, 1733-59. 



ORIGEN. 345 

of the most famous of the Greek translations, including the 
Septuagint. 1 The labor employed in the collation of manu- 
scripts, when preparing this work, was truly prodigious. The 
expense, which must also have been great, was defrayed by 
Ambrosius, a wealthy Christian friend, who placed at the dis- 
posal of the editor the constant services of seven amanuenses. 
By his " Hexapla" Origen did much to preserve the purity of 
the sacred text, and laid the foundations of the science of 
Scripture criticism. 

This learned writer can not be trusted as an interpreter of 
the inspired oracles. Like the Jewish Cabalists, of whom 
Philo, whose works he had diligently studied, 2 is a remarkable 
specimen, he neglects the literal sense of the Word, and be- 
takes himself to mystical expositions. 5 In this way the divine 
record can be made to support any crotchet which happens to 
please the fancy of the commentator. Origen may, in fact, be 
regarded as the father of Christian mysticism ; and in after- 
ages, to a certain class of visionaries, especially among the 
monks, his writings long continued to present peculiar attrac- 
tions. 

On doctrinal points his statements are not always consistent, 
so that it is extremely difficult to form anything like a correct 
idea of his theological sentiments. Thus, on the subject of the 
Trinity, he sometimes speaks most distinctly in the language 
of orthodoxy, whilst again he employs phraseology which 
rather savors of the creed of Sabellius or of Arius. In his at- 
tempts to reconcile the Gospel and his philosophy, he misera- 
bly compromised some of the most important truths of Script- 
ure. The fall of man seems to be not unfrequently repudiated 
in his religious system ; and yet, occasionally, it is distinctly 
recognized. 4 He maintained the pre-existence of human souls ; 

1 The three other Greek versions were those of Aquila, of Symmachus, 
and of Theodotian. 

2 Origen, in his writings, repeatedly refers to Philo by name. See Opera, 

i. 543- 

3 See Euseb. ii., c. 17. 

4 Thus he declares, "The prophets indicating what is wise concerning the 
circumstances of our generation, say that sacrifice is offered for sin, even the 
sin of those newly born as not free from sin, for it is written, ' I was shapen 



346 CYPRIAN. 

he held that the stars are animated beings ; that all men shall 
ultimately attain happiness ; and that the devils themselves 
shall eventually be saved. 1 

It is abundantly clear that Origen was a man of true piety. 
His whole life illustrates his self-denial, his single-mindedness, 
his delight in the Word of God, and his zeal for the advance- 
ment of the kingdom of Christ. In the Decian persecution he 
suffered nobly as a confessor; and the torture which he then 
endured hastened his demise. But with all his learning he was 
deficient in practical sagacity; and, though both his genius and 
his eloquence were of a high order, he possessed scarcely even 
an average share of prudence and common sense. His writ- 
ings diffused, not the genial light of the Sun of Righteousness, 
but the mist and darkness of a Platonized Christianity. Though 
he induced many philosophers to become members of the 
Church, the value of these accessions was greatly deteriorated 
by the daring spirit of speculation which they were encouraged 
to cultivate. His Christian courage, his industry, and his in- 
vincible perseverance, chalfenge our highest admiration. He 
closed a most laborious career at Tyre, A.D. 254, in the seven- 
tieth year of his age. 

Ahout the time of the death of Origen, a Latin author, 
whose writings are still perused with interest, was beginning 
to attract much notice. CYPRIAN of Carthage, before his con- 
version to Christianity, was a professor of rhetoric and a gen- 
tleman of property. When he renounced heathenism, he had 
reached the mature age of forty-five or forty-six; and as he 
possessed rank, talent, and popular eloquence, he was deemed 
no ordinary acquisition to the Church. 2 About two years after 

in wickedness, and in sin did my mother conceive me.' " — Contra Celsum, 
vii. § 50. 

1 He held, however, that Satan is to be excepted from the general salva- 
tion. See "Epist. ad Amicos Alexandrinos," Opera i., p. 5. 

2 Mr. Cooper, in his " Free Church of Ancient Christendom," p. 403, has 
adduced a variety of arguments to show that Cascilius, the spiritual father 
of Cyprian, is the author of the " Recognitions of Clement," a spurious pro- 
duction which was fabricated in the early part of the third century. The 
evidence is very striking; and the fact, if admitted, will serve to account for 
the rapid spread of hierarchical principles about this period. 



CYPRIAN. 347 

his baptism, the chief pastor of the metropolis of the Procon- 
sular Africa was removed by death ; and Cyprian, by the ac- 
clamations of the Christian people, was called to the vacant 
office. At that time there were only eight presbyters, 1 or el- 
ders, connected with the bishopric of Carthage ; but the city 
contained some hundreds of thousands of a population ; and, 
though the episcopal dignity was not without its perils, it did 
not want the attractions of wealth and influence. The ad- 
vancement of Cyprian gave great offence to the other elders, 
who conceived that one of themselves, on the ground of 
greater experience and more lengthened services, had a bet- 
ter title to promotion. Though the new bishop was sustained 
by the enthusiastic support of the multitude, the presbytery 
contrived, notwithstanding, to give him considerable annoy- 
ance. Five of them, constituting a majority, formed them- 
selves into a regular opposition ; and for several years the Car- 
thaginian Church was distracted by the struggles between the 
bishop and his presbytery. 

The pastorate of Cyprian extended over a period of ten 
years ; but meanwhile persecution raged, and the bishop was 
obliged to spend nearly the one-third of his episcopal life in 
retirement and in exile. From his retreat he kept up a com- 
munication by, letters with his flock. 2 The worship and con- 
stitution of the Church in the middle of the third century may 
be ascertained pretty clearly from the Cyprianic correspond- 

1 See Sage's "Vindication of the Principles of the Cyprianic Age," p. 348. 
London, 1701. 

2 In the case of these epistles much confusion arises, in the way of refer- 
ence, from their various arrangement by different editors. The references 
in this work to Cyprian are to the edition of Baluzius, folio, Venice, 1728. 
Baluzius, in the arrangement of the letters, adopts the same order as Pame- 
lius, but Epistle II. of the latter is Epistle I. of the former, and so on to 
Epistle XXIII. of Pamelius, which is Epistle XXII. of the other. Baluzius 
here conforms exactly to the numeration of the preceding editor by making 
Epistle XXIV. immediately follow Epistle XXII., so that from this to the 
end of the series the same references apply equally well to the work of either. 
The numeration of the Oxford edition of Bishop Fell is, with a few excep- 
tions, quite different. The " Instructions " of Commodian, a poor Christian 
poet of Africa who nourished in the third century, are sometimes found ap- 
pended to Cyprian's works. 



348 CYPRIAN'S MARTYRDOM. 

ence. Some of the letters addressed to the Carthaginian bish- 
op, as well as those dictated by him, are still extant ; and as 
he maintained an epistolary intercourse with Rome, Cappa- 
docia, and other places, the documents known as the Cyprianic 
writings ' are among the most important of the ancient eccle- 
siastical memorials. This eminent pastor has also left behind 
him several short treatises on topics which were then attract- 
ing public attention. Among these may be mentioned his 
tracts on " The Unity of the Church," " The Lord's Prayer," 
" The Vanity of Idols," " The Grace of God," " The Dress of 
Virgins," and " The Benefit of Patience." 

The writings of Cyprian have long been noted, for their or- 
thodoxy ; and yet it must be admitted that his hierarchical 
prejudices stunted his charity and obscured his intellectual 
vision. Tertullian was his favorite author ; and he possessed 
much of the contracted spirit and stiff formalism of the great 
Carthaginian presbyter. He speaks in more exalted terms of 
the authority of bishops than any preceding writer. The at- 
tempts of his discontented presbyters to curb his power in- 
flamed his old aristocratic hauteur, and thus led to a reaction ; 
and supported by the popular voice, he was tempted absurdly 
to magnify his office, and to stretch his prerogative beyond 
the bounds of its legitimate exercise. His name carried with 
it great influence, and from his time episcopal pretensions ad- 
vanced apace. 

Cyprian was martyred about A.D. 258 in the Valerian perse- 
cution. As he was a man of rank, and personally related to 
some of the imperial officers at Carthage, he was treated, 
when a prisoner, with unusual respect and indulgence. On 
the evening before his death an elegant supper was provided 
for him, and he was permitted to enjoy the society of a nu. 
merous party of his friends. When he reached the spot where 
he suffered he was subjected to no lingering torments ; for his 
head was severed from his body by a single stroke of the exe- 
cutioner. 2 

1 Mr. Shepherd has completely failed in his attempt to disprove the genu- 
ineness of these writings. They are as well attested as any other docu- 
ments of antiquity. 

2 See Period ii., sec. i., chap, ii., p. 274, note. 



GREGORY THAUMATURGUS. 349 

The only other writer of note who flourished after Cyprian, 
in the third century, 1 was Gregory, surnamed Thaumaturgus, 
or The Wonder-Worker. He belonged to a pagan family of 
distinction ; and, when a youth, was intended for the profes- 
sion of the law ; but, becoming acquainted with Origen at 
Caesarea in Palestine, he was induced to embrace the Christian 
faith, and relinquish flattering prospects of secular promotion. 
He became subsequently the bishop of Neo-Csesarea in Pon- 
tus. When he entered on his charge he had a congregation 
of only seventeen individuals ; but his ministry was singularly 
successful ; for, according to tradition, all the inhabitants of 
the city, with seventeen exceptions, were, at the time of his 
death, members of the Church. The reports respecting him 
are exaggerated, and no credit can be attached to the narra- 
tive of his miracles. 2 He wrote several works, of which his 
"Panegyric on Origen," and his " Paraphrase on Ecclesiastes," 
are still extant. The genuineness of some other tracts as- 
cribed to him may be fairly challenged. 

The preceding account of the fathers of the second and third 
centuries may enable us to form some idea of the value of 
these writers as ecclesiastical authorities. Most of them had 
reached maturity before they embraced the faith of the Gos- 
pel, so that, with a few exceptions, they wanted the advan- 
tages of an early Christian education. Some of them, before 
their conversion, had bestowed much time and attention on 
the speculations of the pagan philosophers ; and, after their 
reception into the bosom of the Church, they still continued 
to pursue the same unprofitable studies. Cyprian, one of the 
most eloquent of these fathers, had been baptized only about 
two years before he was elected bishop of Carthage ; and, dur- 
ing his comparatively short episcopate, he was generally in a 

1 It has not been thought necessary in this chapter to notice either Arno- 
bzus, an African rhetorician, who wrote seven Books against the Gentiles ; 
or the Christian Cicero, Lactantius, who is said to have been his pupil. 
Both these authors appeared about the end of the period embraced in this 
history, and consequently exerted little or no influence during the time of 
which it treats. 

2 His life was written by Gregory Nyssen a century after his death* 



350 ABSURDITIES OF THE EARLY FATHERS. 

turmoil of excitement, and had, consequently, little leisure 
for reading or mental cultivation. Such a writer is not enti- 
tled to command confidence as an expositor of the faith once 
delivered to the saints. Even in our own day, with all the 
facilities supplied by printing for the rapid accumulation of 
knowledge, no one expects much spiritual instruction from an 
author who undertakes the office of an interpreter of Script, 
ure two years after his conversion from heathenism. The fa- 
thers of the second and third centuries were not regarded as 
safe guides even by their Christian contemporaries. Tatian 
was the founder of a sect of extreme Teetotalers. 1 Tertullian, 
who, in point of learning, vigor, and genius, stands at the 
head of the Latin writers of this period, was connected with a 
party of gloomy fanatics. Origen, the most voluminous and 
erudite of the Greek fathers, was excommunicated as a heretic. 
If we estimate these authors, as they were appreciated by the 
early Church of Rome, we must pronounce their writings of 
little value. Tertullian, as a Montanist, was under the ban of 
the Roman bishop. Hippolytus could not have been a favor- 
ite with either Zephyrinus or Callistus, for he denounced both 
as heretics. Origen was treated by the Roman Church as a 
man under sentence of excommunication. Stephen deemed 
even Cyprian unworthy of his ecclesiastical fellowship, be- 
cause the Carthaginian prelate maintained the propriety of 
rebaptizing heretics. 

Nothing can be more unsatisfactory, or rather childish, than 
the explanations of Holy Writ sometimes given by these an- 
cient expositors. According to Tertullian, the two sparrows 
mentioned in the New Testament 2 signify the soul and the 
body ; 3 and Clemens Alexandrinus gravely pleads for mar- 
riage 4 from the promise, " Where two or three are gathered 
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." 5 
Cyprian produces, as an argument in support of the doctrine 
of the Trinity, that the Jews observed " the third, sixth, and 
ninth hours " as their " fixed and lawful seasons for prayer." 8 

1 See a preceding note in this chapter, p. 334. 2 Matt. x. 29. 

3 Scorpiace, c. ix. 4 Stromata, book iii. B Matt, xviii. 20. 

• " For," says he, " from the first hour to the third, a trinity of number is 



ABSURDITIES OF THE EARLY FATHERS. 35 1 

Origen represents the heavenly bodies as literally engaged in 
acts of devotion. 1 If these authorities are to be credited, the 
Gihon, one of the rivers of Paradise, was no other than the 
Nile. 2 Very few of the fathers of this period were acquainted 
with Hebrew, so that, as a class, they were miserably qualified 
for the interpretation of the Scriptures. Even Origen himself 
had a very imperfect knowledge of the language of the Old 
Testament. 3 In consequence of their literary deficiencies, the 
fathers of the second and third centuries occasionally commit 
the most ridiculous blunders. Thus, Irenaeus tells us that the 
name Jesus in Hebrew consists of two letters and a half, and 
describes it as signifying " that Lord who contains heaven 
and earth." 4 This father asserts also that the Hebrew word 
Adonai, or the Lord, denotes " utterable and wonderful." 5 
Clemens Alexandrinus is not more successful as an interpreter 
of the sacred tongue of the chosen people ; for he asserts that 
Jacob was called Israel " because he had seen the Lord God," 6 
and he avers that Abraham means " the elect father of a 
sound " ! 7 Justin Martyr errs egregiously in his references to 
the Old Testament ; as he cites Isaiah for Jeremiah, 8 Zechariah 
for Malachi, 9 Zephaniah for Zechariah, 10 and Jeremiah for Dan- 
manifested ; from the fourth on to the sixth, is another trinity ; and in the 
seventh, closing- with the ninth, a perfect trinity is numbered, in spaces of 
three hours." — On the Lord's Prayer, p. 426. 

1 " Contra Celsum," v. § 11. 

2 Theophilus to Autolycus, lib. ii., § 24. 

3 In proof of this see his treatise "Contra Celsum," i. 25, also "Opera," 
iii., p. 616, and iv., p. 86. 

4 " Contra Haereses," ii., c. xxiv., § 2. See Matt. i. 21. 

5 " Contra Hasreses," ii., c. xxxv. 3. He seems to have confounded 
Adonai and Yehovah. The latter word was regarded by the Jews as the 
" unutterable ' name. Hence it has been thought that in the Latin version 
of Irenaeus we should read " innominabile " for " nominabile." See Stieren's 
" Irenaeus," i. 418. 

6 " Paedagogue," book i. See Gen. xxxii. 28. 

' " Stromata," book v. See Gen. xvii. 5. Not a few of these mistakes 
may be traced to Philo Judaeus. Thus, this interpretation of Abraham is 
found in his " Questions and Solutions on Genesis," book iii. 43. 

8 " Apol.," ii., p. 88. 9 " Dialogue with Tyrpho," Opera, p. 268. 

10 "Apol.," ii., p. 76. 



352 ABSURDITIES OF THE EARLY FATHERS. 

iel. 1 Irenoeus repeats, as an apostolic tradition, that when 
our Lord acted as a public teacher He was between forty and 
fifty years of age ; 2 and Tertullian affirms that He was about 
thirty years of age at the time of His crucifixion. 8 The opin- 
ion of this same writer in reference to angels is still more ex- 
traordinary. He maintains that some of these beings, capti- 
vated by the beauty of the daughters of men, came down fro # m 
heaven and married them ; and that, out of complaisance to 
their brides, they communicated to them the arts of polishing 
and setting precious stones, of preparing cosmetics, and of 
using other appliances which minister to female vanity. 4 His 
ideas on topics of a different character are equally singular. 
Thus, he affirms that the soul is corporeal, having length, 
breadth, height, and figure. 6 He even goes so far as to say 
that there is no substance which is not corporeal, and that 
God himself is a body. 8 

It would seem as if the Great Head of the Church permitted 
these early writers to commit the grossest mistakes, and to 
propound the most foolish theories, for the express purpose 
of teaching us that we are not implicitly to follow their guid- 
ance. It might have been thought that authors who flourished 
on the borders of apostolic times, knew more of the mind of 
the Spirit than others in succeeding ages ; but the truths of 
Scripture, like the phenomena of the visible creation, are 
equally intelligible to all generations. If we possess spiritual 
discernment, the trees and the flowers will display the wisdom 
and the goodness of God as distinctly to us as they did to our 
first parents ; and, if we have the " unction from the Holy 
One," we may enter into the meaning of the Scriptures as 
fully as did Justin Martyr or Irenoeus. To assist us in the 
interpretation of the New Testament, we have at command a 

1 " Apol.," ii., p. 86. " " Contra Hasreses," ii., c. xxii., § 5. 

8 He thus makes His ministry about a year in length. " Adversus Ju- 
daeos," c. viii. 

4 " De Cultu Feminatum," lib. i., c. 2, and lib. ii., c. 10. 

6 See Kaye's " Tertullian," p. 196. See also Warburton's " Divine Lega- 
tion of Moses," i. 510. Edit. London, 1837. 

• "Adversus Hermogenem," c. 35, and "Adversus Praxeam," c. 7. 



THE BIBLE ITS OWN INTERPRETER. 353 

critical apparatus of which they were unable to avail them- 
selves. Jehovah is jealous of the honor of His Word, and He 
has inscribed in letters of light over the labors of its most an- 
cient interpreters — " CEASE YE FROM MAN." The " opening 
of the Scriptures," so as to exhibit their beauty, their consist- 
ency, their purity, their wisdom, and their power, is the clear- 
est proof that the commentator is possessed of " the key of 
knowledge." When tried by tlys test, Thomas Scott or Mat- 
thew Henry is better entitled to confidence than either Origen 
or Gregory Thaumaturgus. The Bible is its own safest expos- 
itor. " The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul ; 
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." 



23 



CHAPTER II. 

THE IGNATIAN EPISTLE^ AND THEIR CLAIMS— THE 
EXTERNAL EVIDENCE. 

The Epistles attributed to Ignatius have attracted greater 
notice, and created more discussion, than any other uninspired 
writings of the same extent in existence. The productions 
ascribed to this author, and now reputed genuine by the most 
learned of their recent editors, might all be printed on the 
one-fourth of a page of an ordinary newspaper ; and yet, the 
fatigue of travelling thousands of miles has been encountered, 1 
for the special purpose of searching after correct copies of 
these highly-prized memorials. Large volumes have been 
written, either to establish their authority, or to prove that 
they are forgeries ; and, if collected together, the books in 
various languages to which they have given birth, would them- 
selves form a considerable library. Recent discoveries have 
thrown new light on their pretensions, but though the contro- 
versy has continued upwards of three hundred years, it has 
not hitherto reached a satisfactory termination. 2 

1 In 1842, Archdeacon Tattam, who had returned only three years before 
from Egypt, where he had been searching for ancient manuscripts, set out 
a second time to that country, under the auspices of the Trustees of the 
British Museum, chiefly for the purpose of endeavoring to procure copies 
of the Ignatian epistles. On this occasion he succeeded in obtaining posses- 
sion of the Syriac copy of the three letters published by Dr. Cureton in 
1845. Shortly before the Revolution of 1688, Robert Huntingdon, after- 
ward Bishop of Raphoe, and then chaplain to the British merchants at 
Aleppo, twice undertook a voyage to Egypt in quest of copies of the Igna- 
tian epistles. On one of these occasions he visited the monastery in the 
Nitrian desert, in which the letters were recently found. 

8 Of the writers who have taken a prominent part in the Ignatian con- 
troversy we may particularly mention Ussher, Vossius, Hammond, Daille, 
Pearson, Larroque, Rothe, Baur, Cureton, Hefele, Bunsen, and Lightfoot. 
(354) 



THE STORY OF IGNATIUS. 355 

The Ignatian letters owe almost all their importance to the 
circumstance that they are supposed to have been written on 
the confines of the apostolic age. As very few records remain 
to illustrate the ecclesiastical history of that period, it is not 
strange that epistles, purporting to have emanated from one 
\>t the most distinguished ministers who then flourished, should 
have excited uncommon attention. But doubts as to their 
genuineness have always been entertained by candid and com- 
petent scholars. The spirit of sectarianism has entered largely 
into the discussion of their claims ; and, whilst certain distinct 
references to the subject of Church polity, which they con- 
tain, have greatly enhanced their value in the estimation of 
one party, the same passages have been quoted, by those who 
repudiate their authority, as so many decisive proofs of their 
fabrication. The annals of literature furnish scarcely any 
other case in which ecclesiastical prejudices have been so 
much mixed up with a question of mere criticism. 

The history of the individual to whom these letters are as- 
cribed, has been so metamorphosed by fables, that it is now 
impossible to ascertain its true outlines. There is a tradition 
that he was the child whom our Saviour set in the midst of 
His disciples as a pattern of humility ; ! and as our Lord, on 
the occasion, took up the little personage in His arms, it has 
been asserted that Ignatius was therefore surnamed Tkeophorus, 
that is, borne or carried by God? Whatever may be thought 
as to the truth of this story, it gives a not very inaccurate 
view of the date of his birth ; for he was far advanced in 
life' at the period when he is supposed to have written these 
celebrated letters. According to the current accounts, he was 

1 Matt, xviii. 2-4 ; Mark ix. 36. 

2 There has been a keen controversy respecting the accentuation of Qeo- 
<t>opog. Those who place the accent on the antepenult (Qedfopog) give it the 
meaning mentioned in the text ; whilst others, placing the accent on the 
penult (Geotiopog), understand by it God-bear i?ig, the explanation given in the 
"Acts of the Martyrdom of Ignatius." See Dailie, "De Scriptis quas sub 
Dionysii Areop. et Ignatii Antioch. nom. circumferuntur,'' lib. ii., c. 25 ; and 
Pearson's "Vindiciae Ignatianse," pars 3, sec. cap. xii. 

3 Cave reckons that at the time of his martyrdom he was probably 
" above four score years old." See his " Life of Ignatius." 



35^ THE I GN ATI AN EPISTLES. 

the second bishop of Antioch at the time of his martyrdom ; 
and as his age suggests that he was then the senior member 
of the presbytery, 1 the tradition may have thus originated. It 
is alleged that when Trajan visited the capital of Syria in the 
ninth year of his reign, or A.D. 107, Ignatius voluntarily pre- 
sented himself before the imperial tribunal, and avowed his 
Christianity. He was in consequence condemned to be carried 
a prisoner to Rome, there to be consigned to the wild beasts 
for the entertainment of the populace. On his way to the 
Western metropolis, he stopped at Smyrna. The legend rep- 
resents Polycarp as then the chief pastor of that city ; and, 
when there, Ignatius received deputations from the neighbor- 
ing churches, and addressed to them several letters. From 
Smyrna he proceeded to Troas ; where he dictated some ad- 
ditional epistles, including one to Polycarp. The claims of 
these letters to be considered his genuine productions have 
led to the controversy we are now to notice. 

The story of Ignatius exhibits many marks of error and ex- 
aggeration ; and yet it is no easy matter to determine how 
much of it should be pronounced fictitious. Few will venture 
to assert that the account of his martyrdom is to be rejected 
as altogether apocryphal ; and still fewer will go so far as to 
maintain that he is a purely imaginary character. There is 
every reason to believe that, very early in the second century, 
he was connected with the Church of Antioch ; and that, 
about the same period, he suffered unto death in the cause of 
Christianity. 3 Pliny, who was then Proconsul of Bithynia, 

1 See Period ii:, sec. iii., chap. v. Evodius is commonly represented as 
the first bishop of Antioch. See Euseb. iii. 22. 

9 According to Malalas, a Greek writer of the sixth century, who lived in 
Antioch, Ignatius was martyred on the 20th of December, A.D. 115 — not 
at Rome, but at Antioch. Bishop Lightfoot rejects this testimony, among 
other reasons, on account of its late date ; but it supplies proof that, in the 
time of this writer, the story told by Eusebius relative to the Ignatian epis- 
tles was discredited. The statement — so minute as to date, place, and 
other circumstances — is not at all likely to have been fabricated by this 
witness ; it seems to have been handed down to him from earlier times, and 
though we can not now trace the preceding links of evidence, it possesses 
stong internal marks of credibility. 



THE STORY OF IGNATIUS. 357 

mentions that as he did not well know, in the beginning of 
his administration, how to deal with the accused Christians, 
he sent those of them who were Roman citizens to the Em- 
peror, that he might himself pronounce judgment. 1 It is pos- 
sible that the chief magistrate of Syria pursued the same 
course ; and that thus Ignatius was transmitted as a prisoner 
into Italy. But, on some such substratum of facts, a mass of 
incongruous fictions has been erected. The " Acts of his 
Martyrdom," still extant, and written probably upwards of a 
hundred years after his demise, can not stand the test of 
chronological investigation ; and have evidently been com- 
piled by some very superstitious and credulous author. Ac- 
cording to these acts, Ignatius was condemned by Trajan at 
Antioch in the ninth' 1 year of his reign; but it has been 
contended that, not till long afterward, was the Emperor 
in the Syrian capital. 3 In the "Acts," Ignatius is de- 
scribed as presenting himself before his sovereign of his 
own accord, to proclaim his Christianity — a piece of fool- 
hardiness for which it is difficult to discover any reasonable 
apology. The report of the interview between Ignatius and 
Trajan attests that the martyr had entirely lost the humility 
for which he has obtained credit when a child ; as his conduct, 
in the presence of the Emperor, betrays no small amount of 
boastfulness and presumption. The account of his trans- 

1 " Fuerunt alii similis amentiae : quos, quia cives Romani erant, annotavi 
in Urbem remittendos." — Plinii, Epist. lib. x., epist. 96. 

2 The Greek says the ninth, and the Latin the fourth year. According 
to both, the condemnation took place early in the reign of Trajan. See 
also the first sentence of the " Acts." In his translation of these " Acts," 
Wake, regardless of this statement, and in opposition to all manuscript au- 
thority, represents the sentence as pronounced " in the nineteenth year " of 
Trajan. 

3 See Jacobson's "Patres Apostolici," ii. p. 504. See also Greswell's 
" Dissertations," vol. iv., p. 422. It is evident that the date in the " Acts ■' 
can not be the mistake of a transcriber, for in the same document the mar- 
tyrdom is said to have occurred when Sura and Synecius were consuls. 
These, as Greswell observes, were actually consuls " in the ninth of Trajan. " 
Greswell's "Dissertations," iv. p. 416. Hefele, however, has attempted to 
show that Trajan was really in Antioch about this time. See his " Pat. 
Apost. Opera Prolegomena," p. 35. Edit. Tubingen, 1842. 



358 THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. 

mission to Rome, to be thrown to wild beasts, presents difficul- 
ties with which even the most zealous defenders of his legend- 
ary history have found it impossible to grapple. He was sent 
away, say they, to the Italian metropolis that the sight of so 
distinguished a victim passing through so many cities on his 
way to a cruel death might strike terror into the hearts of the 
Christian inhabitants. But he was conveyed from Syria to 
Smyrna by water? so that the explanation is quite unsatisfac- 
tory ; and, had the journey been accomplished by land, it is 
still insufficient, as the disciples of that age were unhappily 
only too familiar with spectacles of Christian martyrdom. 
Our perplexity increases as we proceed more minutely to in- 
vestigate the circumstances under which the epistles are report- 
ed to have been composed. Whilst Ignatius was hurried with 
great violence and barbarity from the East to the West, he 
remained for many days together in the same place, 5 receiving 
visitors from the Churches all around, and writing magniloquent 
epistles. What is still more remarkable, though he was pressed 
by the soldiers to hasten forward, and though a prosperous gale 
speedily carried his vessel into Italy, 3 one of these letters is 
expected to outstrip the rapidity of his own progress, and to 
reach Rome before himself and his impatient escort ! 

Early in the fourth century at least seven epistles attributed 
to Ignatius were in circulation, for Eusebius of Caesarea, who 
then flourished, distinctly mentions so many, and states to 
whom they were addressed. From Smyrna the martyr wrote 

1 " Acts of his Martyrdom," § 8. 

2 He is said, when at Smyrna, to have been visited by a deputation from 
the Magnesians. But Magnesia on the Meander, the city from which this 
deputation is alleged to have come, was at least fifty miles from Smyrna ; 
so that, had notice been sent to his friends there, as soon as he arrived in 
the place where they were to see him, and had the Magnesians set out in- 
stantaneously, a considerable time must meanwhile have been occupied. 
Thus, notwithstanding all the precipitation with which he was hurried along, 
fte must have been several days in Smyrna. See " Corpus Ignatianum," 
pp. 326, 327. 

3 " He was pressed by the soldiers to hasten to the public spectacles at 
great Rome." " And the wind continuing favorable to us, in one day and 
night we were hurried on." — Acts of his Martyrdom, §§ 10, 11. 



THE STORY OF IGNATIUS. 359 

four letters — one to the Ephesians, another to the Magnesians, 
a third to the Trallians, a fourth to the Romans. From Troas 
he wrote three additional letters — one to Polycarp, a second to 
the Smyrnseans, and a third to the Philadelphians. 1 At a sub- 
sequent period eight more epistles made their appearance, 
including two to the Apostle John, one to the Virgin Mary, 
one to Maria Cassobolita, one to the Tarsians, one to the 
Philippians, one to the Antiochians, and one to Hero the dea- 
con. Thus, no less than fifteen epistles claim Ignatius of An- 
tioch as their author. 

It is unnecessary to discuss the merits of the eight letters 
unknown to Eusebius. They were all fabricated after the 
time of that historian; and critics have long since concurred in 
rejecting them as spurious. Until recently, those engaged in 
the Ignatian controversy were occupied chiefly with the ex- 
amination of the claims of the documents mentioned by the 
bishop of Cassarea. Here, however, the strange variations in 
the copies tended greatly to complicate the discussion. The 
letters of different manuscripts, when compared together, 
disclosed extraordinary discrepancies ; for though all the cod- 
ices contained much of the same matter, a letter in one edition 
was, in some cases, double the length of the corresponding 
letter in another. Some writers contended for the genuineness 
of the shorter epistles, and represented the larger as made up 
of the true text extended by interpolations ; whilst others pro- 
nounced the larger letters the originals, and condemned the 
shorter as unsatisfactory abridgments. 2 But, though both 
editions had most erudite and zealous advocates, many critics 
of eminent ability continued to look with distrust on the text, 
as well of the shorter as of the larger letters ; and not a few 
were disposed to suspect that Ignatius had no share whatever 
in the composition of any of these documents. 

1 Philadelphia is distant from Troas about two hundred miles. " Corpus 
Ignatianum," pp. 331, 332. Here, then, is another difficulty connected with 
this hasty journey. How could a deputation from Philadelphia meet Igna- 
tius in Troas, if he did not stop a considerable time there ? See other diffi- 
culties suggested by Dr. Cureton. "Cor. Ignat.'' p. 332. 

9 Such is the opinion maintained by the celebrated Whiston in his " Prim- 
itive Christianity." More recently Meier took up nearly the same position. 



360 THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. 

In the year 1845 a new turn was given to this controversy 
by the publication of a Syriac version of three of the Ignatian 
letters. They were printed from a manuscript deposited in 
1843 m tne British Museum, and obtained, shortly before, from 
a monastery in the desert of Nitria in Egypt. The work was 
dedicated by permission to the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
and the views propounded in it were understood to have the 
sanction of the English metropolitan. 1 Dr. Cureton, the editor, 
has since entered more fully into the discussion of the subject 
in his " Corpus Ignatianum" 2 — a volume dedicated to His 
Royal Highness the Prince Albert, in which the various texts 
of all the epistles are exhibited, and in which the claims of the 
three recently discovered letters, as the only genuine produc- 
tions of Ignatius, are ingeniously maintained. In the Syriac 
copies, 3 these letters are styled, " The Three Epistles of Igna- 
tius, Bishop and Martyr," and thus the inference is suggested 
that at one time they were the only three epistles in existence. 
Dr. Cureton's statements have made a great impression on the 
mind of the literary public, and there is at present a pretty 
general disposition in certain quarters 4 to discard all the other 
epistles as forgeries, and to accept those preserved in the Syriac 
version as the veritable compositions of the pastor of Antioch. 

It is obvious from the foregoing explanations that increasing 
light has wonderfully diminished the amount of literature 
which once obtained credit under the name of the venerable 
Ignatius. In the sixteenth century he was reputed by many 
as the author of fifteen letters ; it was subsequently discovered 
that eight of them were apocryphal ; farther investigation con- 
vinced critics that considerable portions of the remaining seven 

1 See Preface to the " Corpus Ignatianum," p. 4. 

2 Published in 1849. In 1846 he published his " Vindicias Ignatianae ; or 
the Genuine Writings of St. Ignatius, as exhibited in the ancient Syriac 
version, vindicated from the charge of heresy." 

3 In 1847 another copy of the Syriac version of the three epistles was de- 
posited in the British Museum, and since, Sir Henry Rawlinson has obtained 
a third copy at Bagdad. See British Quarterly for October, 1855, p. 452. 

4 Dr. Lee, late Regius Professor of Hebrew in Cambridge, Chevalier Bun- 
sen, and other scholars of great eminence, have espoused the views of Dr. 
Cureton. 



PEARSON'S "VINDICLE." 361 

must be rejected ; and when the short text of these epistles 
was published, 1 about the middle of the seventeenth century, 
candid scholars confessed that it still betrayed unequivocal in- 
dications of corruption. 2 But even some Protestant writers of 
the highest rank stoutly upheld their claims, and the learned 
Pearson devoted years to the preparation of a defence of their 
authority. 3 His " Vindiciae Ignatianse " has long been consid- 
ered by a certain party as unanswerable ; and, though the 
publication has been read by very few, 4 the advocates of what 
are called " High-Church principles " have been reposing for 
nearly two centuries under the shadow of its reputation. The 
critical labors of Dr. Cureton have disturbed their dream of 
security, as that distinguished scholar has adduced very good 
evidence to show that about three-fourths of the matter 5 which 
the Bishop of Chester spent a considerable portion of his ma- 
ture age in attempting to prove genuine, is the work of an im- 
postor. It is now admitted by the highest authorities that 
four of the seven short letters must be given up as spurious ; 
and the remaining three, which are addressed respectively to 

1 By Archbishop Ussher in 1644, and by Vossius in 1646. 

2 Such was the opinion of Ussher himself. " Concludimus .... nul- 
las omni ex parte sinceras esse habendas et genuinas." Dissertation pre- 
fixed to his edition of " Polycarp and Ignatius," chap. 18. 

3 Pearson was occupied six years in the preparation of this work. The 
publication of Daille, to which it was a reply, appeared in 1666. Daille" 
died in 1670, at the advanced age of seventy-six. The work of Pearson did 
not appear until two years afterward, or in 1672. The year following he 
received the bishopric of Chester as his reward. 

4 " In the whole course of my inquiries respecting the Ignatian Esistles," 
says Dr. Cureton, " I have never met with one person who prof esses to have 
read Bishop Pearson's celebrated book ; but I was informed by one of the 
most learned and eminent of the present bench of bishops (Kaye), that Por- 
son, after having perused the ' Vindiciae,' had expressed to him his opinion 
that it was a ' very unsatisfactory work.' " — Corpus Ignat., Preface, pp. 14, 
15, note. Bishop Pearson's work is written in Latin. Dr. Cureton, in a 
private letter, informed me that Porson "rejected " the letters as edited by 
Ussher. Bishop Kaye told him so. See Appendix to my " Old Catholic 
Church." 

6 The " Three Epistles " edited by Dr. Cureton contain only about the 
one-fourth of the matter of the seven shorter letters edited by Ussher. 



362 THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. 

Polycarp, to the Ephesians, and to the Romans, and which are 
found in the Syriac version, are much shorter even than the 
short epistles which had already appeared under the same 
designations. The Epistle to Polycarp, the shortest of trie 
seven letters in preceding editions, is here presented in a still 
more abbreviated form ; the Epistle to the Romans wants fully 
the pne-third of its previous matter ; and the Epistle to the 
Ephesians has lost nearly three-fourths of its contents. Nor is 
this all. In the Syriac version a large fragment of one of the 
four recently rejected letters reappears ; as the new edition of 
the Epistle to the Romans contains two entire paragraphs to 
be found in the discarded letter to the Trallians. 

It is only due to Dr. Cureton to acknowledge that his pub- 
lications have thrown immense light on this tedious and keenly 
agitated controversy. But, unquestionably he has not ex- 
hausted the discussion. Instead of abruptly adopting the 
conclusion that the three letters of the Syriac version are to 
be received as genuine, we conceive he would have argued 
more logically had he inferred that they reveal one of the ear- 
liest forms of a gross imposture. We are persuaded that the 
epistles he has edited, as well as all the others previously 
published, are fictitious, ; and we shall endeavor to demonstrate 
in the sequel of this chapter, that the external evidence in 
their favor is most unsatisfactory. 

When discussing the testimonies from the writers of an- 
tiquity in their support, it is not necessary to examine any 
later witness than Eusebius. The weight of his literary char- 
acter influenced all succeeding fathers, and some, who perhaps 
had never seen these documents, refer to them on the strength 
of his authority. 1 In his " Ecclesiastical History," which was 
published, as is thought, about A.D. 325, he asserts that Igna- 
tius wrote seven letters, and from these he makes a few quo- 
tations. 3 But his admission of the genuineness of a correspond- 
ence, bearing date upwards of two hundred years before his 
own appearance as an author, is an attestation of very doubt- 

1 Dr. Cureton has shown that even the learned Jerome must have known 
very little of these letters. " Corpus Ignat," Introd., p. 67. 
a Euseb. Hi., c. 36. 



TESTIMONY OF ORIGEN. 363 

ful value. He often makes mistakes respecting the character 
of ecclesiastical memorials ; and in one memorable case, of 
far more consequence than that under consideration, he has 
blundered most egregiously ; for he has published, as genuine, 
the spurious correspondence between Abgarus and our Sav- 
iour. 1 He was under strong temptations to form an unduly 
favorable judgment of the letters attributed to Ignatius, inas- 
much as, to use the words of Dr. Cureton, " they seemed to 
afford evidence to the apostolic succession in several churches, 
an account of which he professes to be one of the chief objects 
of his history." a His reference to them is decisive as to the 
fact of their existence in the early part of the fourth century ; 
but those who adopt the views propounded in the " Corpus Ig- 
natianum," are not prepared to bow to his critical decision ; 
for on this very occasion he has given his sanction to four let- 
ters which they pronounce apocryphal. 

The only father who notices these letters before the fourth 
century, is Origen. He quotes from them twice ; s the cita- 
tions which he gives are to be found in the Syriac version of 
the three epistles ; 4 and it would appear from his writings 
that he was not acquainted with the seven letters current in 
the days of Eusebius. 5 Those to which he refers were, per- 

1 Euseb. i., c. 13. He describes the Therapeutae of Egypt, a sect of Jew- 
ish ascetics mentioned by Fhilo, as Christians ; and thus betrays his utter 
ignorance of the history of Monachism. See Euseb. ii. 17. It would be 
easy to prove that the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius is written through- 
out in the interest of the hierarchy. When endeavoring to make out the 
apostolical succession, he deliberately applies to ministers of the 1st and 2d 
centuries, names which were not then current, describing as Bishops per- 
sons who were only known as Presbyters. He adopted the very objection- 
able principle that, for the sake of the Church, we may prevaricate or de- 
ceive. See Waddington's " History of the Church," p. 87. London, 1833. 

5 "Corpus Ignatianum," Introd., p. 71. 

3 Proleg. in " Cantic. Canticorum, " and Homil. vi. in " Lucam." 

4 In the Epistle to the Romans, and the Epistle to the Ephesians. 

6 He quotes the words, " I am not an incorporeal demon," from the 
"Doctrine of Peter"; but they are found in the shorter recension of the 
seven letters in the " Epistle to the Smyrnaeans," § 3. Had this epistle 
been known to him, he would certainly have quoted from an apostolic 
father rather than from a work which he knew to be spurious. Sec Origen, 
" Opera," i., p. 49, note. 



364 THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. 

haps, brought under his notice when he went to Antioch on 
the invitation of Julia Mammsea, the mother of the Emperor; 
as, for reasons subsequently to be stated, it is probable they 
were manufactured in that neighborhood not long before his 
visit. If presented to him at that time by parties interested 
in the recognition of their claims, they were exactly such 
documents as were likely to impose upon him ; for the student 
of Philo, and the author of the " Exhortation to Martyrdom," 
could not but admire the spirit of mysticism by which they 
are pervaded, and the anxiety to die under persecution which 
they proclaim. Whilst, therefore, his quotation of these let- 
ters attests their existence in his time, it is of very little ad- 
ditional value. Again and again in his writings we meet 
with notices of apocryphal works unaccompanied by any inti- 
mations of their spuriousness. 1 He asserts that Barnabas, 
the author of the epistle still extant under his name, 2 was the 
individual mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as the com- 
panion of Paul; and he frequently quotes the "Pastor" of 
Hermas s as a book given by inspiration of God. 4 Such facts 
abundantly prove that his recognition of the Ignatian epistles 
is a very equivocal criterion of their genuineness. 

Attempts have been made to show that two other writers, 
earlier than Origen, have noticed the Ignatian correspond- 
ence ; and Eusebius himself has quoted Polycarp and Ire- 
nseus as if bearing witness in its favor. Polycarp in early 
life was contemporary with the pastor of Antioch ; Irenaeus 
was the disciple of Polycarp ; and, could it be demonstrated 
that either of these fathers vouched for its genuineness, the 
testimony would be of peculiar importance. But, when their 
evidence is examined, it is found to be nothing to the pur- 
pose. In the Treatise against Heresies, Irenaeus speaks, in 
the following terms, of the heroism of a Christian martyr, 
" One of our people said, when condemned to the beasts on 
account of his testimony toward God, As I am the wheat of 
God, I am also ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may be 

1 " Opera," ii. 20, 21 ; iii. 271. 

8 See Period ii., sec. ii., chap, i., p. 334. Origen, " Opera," iv. 473. 

3 Ibid., p. 334. 4 " Opera," i. 79 ; iv. 683. 



QUOTATION FROM IREN^EUS. 365 

found the pure bread of God." 1 These words of the martyr 
are in the Syriac Epistle to the Romans, and hence it has 
been inferred that they are a quotation from that letter. But 
it is far more probable that the words of the letter were 
copied out of Irenaeus, and quietly appropriated, by a forger, 
to the use of his " Ignatius," with a view to obtain credit for 
a false document. The individual who uttered them is not 
named by the pastor of Lyons ; and, after the death of that 
writer, a fabricator could put them into the mouth of whom- 
soever he pleased without any special danger of detection. 
The Treatise against Heresies obtained extensive circulation; 
and as it animadverted on errors which had been promul- 
gated in Antioch, 2 it soon found its way into the Syrian 
capital. 3 But who can believe that Irenaeus describes Igna- 
tius, when he speaks of " one of our people " ? The martyr 
was not such an insignificant personage that he could be thus 
ignored. He was one of the most eminent Christians of his 
age — the companion of apostles — and the presiding minister 
of one of the most influential Churches in the world. Irenaeus 
is obviously alluding to some disciple who occupied a very 
different position. He is speaking, not of what the martyr 
wrote, but of what he said — not of his letters, but of his 
words. Any reader who considers the situation of Irenaeus a 
few years before he published this treatise, can have no diffi- 
culty in understanding the reference. He had witnessed at 
Lyons one of the most terrible persecutions the disciples ever 
had endured ; and, in the letter to the Churches of Asia and 
Phrygia, he had graphically described its horrors. 4 He there 
tells how his brethren had been condemned to be thrown to 

1 " Contra Hsereses," lib. v., c. 28, § 4. " Quidam de nostris dixit, prop- 
ter martyrium in Deum adjudicatus ad bestias : Quoniam frumentum sum 
Christi, et per dentes bestiarum molor, ut mundus panis Dei inveniar." 

2 Thus he speaks of " Saturninus, who was from Antioch." " Contra 
Haereses," lib. i., c. 24, § 1. 

3 It was soon translated into Syriac, See Bunsen's " Hippolytus," iv. 
Preface, p. 8. 

4 See large extracts from this letter in Euseb-. v., c. i. Also Routh's 
" Reliquiae," i. 329. 



366 THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. 

wild beasts, and he records with simplicity and pathos the 
constancy with which they suffered. But in such an epistle 
he could not notice every case which had come under his ob- 
servation, and he here mentions a new instance of the Chris- 
tian courage of some believer unknown to fame, when he 
states, " One of our people when condemned to the beasts, 
said, \ As I am the wheat of God, I am also ground by the 
teeth of beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of 
God.' " 

The Treatise against Heresies supplies the clearest evi- 
dence that Irenaeus was quite ignorant of the existence of the 
Ignatian epistles. These letters contain pointed references 
to the errorists of the early Church, and had they been known 
to the pastor of Lyons, he could have brought them to bear 
with most damaging effect against the heretics he assailed. 
Ignatius was no ordinary witness, for he had heard the truth 
from the lips of the apostles ; he had spent a long life in the 
society of the primitive disciples ; and he filled one of the 
most responsible stations that a Christian minister could oc- 
cupy. The heretics boldly affirmed that they had tradition 
on their side, 1 and therefore the testimony of Ignatius, as of 
an individual who had received tradition at the fountain-head, 
would have been regarded by Irenaeus as all-important. And 
the author of the Treatise against Heresies was not slow to 
employ such evidence when it was in any way available. He 
plies his antagonists with the testimony of Clement of Rome, 2 
of Polycarp, 3 of Papias, 4 and of Justin Martyr. 5 But through- 
out the five books of his discussion he never adduces any of 
the words of the pastor of Antioch. He never throws out 
any hint from which we can infer that he was aware of the 
existence of his Epistles. 6 He never even mentions his name. 
Could we desire more convincing proof that he had never 
heard of the Ignatian correspondence ? 

1 Irenaeus, " Contra Haereses," lib. iii., c. 2, §§ 1, 2. 

2 Lib. ni!, c. 3, §§ 3. 3 Lib. iii., c iii., §§ 4. 
4 Lib. v., c. xxxiii., §§ 3, 4. b Lib. iv., c. vi., §§ 2. 

6 In his " Vindiciae," (Pars. i. cap. 6,) Pearson attempts to parry this 
argument by urging that Irenaeus does not mention other writers, such as 



TESTIMONY OF POLYCARP. 367 

The only other witness now remaining to be examined is 
Polycarp. It has often been affirmed that he distinctly acknowl- 
edges the authority of these letters ; and yet, when honestly 
interrogated, he will be found to deliver quite a different de- 
position. But, before proceeding to consider his testimony, 
let us inquire his age when his epistle was written. It bears 
the following superscription : " Polycarp, and the elders who are 
with him, to the Church of God which is at Philippi." At 
this time, therefore, though the early Christians paid respect 
to hoary hairs, and were not willing to permit persons without 
experience to take precedence of their seniors, Polycarp was 
at the head of the presbytery. But, at the death of Ignatius, 
when according to the current theory he dictated this letter, 
he was still rather a young man. 1 Such a supposition is very 
much out of keeping with the tone of the document. In it 
he admonishes the widows to be sober; 2 he gives advice to 
the elders and deacons; 3 he expresses his great concern for 
Valens, an erring brother, who had once been a presbyter 
among them ; 4 and he intimates that the epistle was written 
at the urgent request of the Philippians themselves. 5 Is it at 
all probable that Polycarp, at the age of thirty-eight, was in a 
position to use such a style of address? Are we to believe he 
was already so well known and so highly venerated that a 
Christian community on the other side of the ^Egean Sea, and 
the oldest Church in all Greece, applied to him for advice and 
direction ? We must be prepared to admit all this, before 

Barnabas, Ouadratus, Aristides, Athenagoras, and /Theophilus. But the 
reply is obvious — 1. These writers were occupied chiefly in defending 
Christianity against the attacks of paganism, so that testimonies against 
heresy could not be expected in their works. 2. None of them were so 
early as Ignatius, so that their testimony, even could it have been obtained, 
would have been of less value. Some of them, such as Theophilus, were 
the contemporaries of Irenaeus. 2. None of them held such an important 
position in the Church as Ignatius. 

1 He was martyred a.d. 155, at the age of eighty- six. According to the 
"Acts of his Martyrdom," Ignatius was martyred nearly fifty years before, 
or a.d. 107. Polycarp was, therefore, now about thirty-eight. See more par- 
ticularly Period ii., sec. Hi., chap, v., note, and p. 332, note. 

2 Sec. 4. 3 Sees. 5, 6. * Sec. 11. * Sec. 3. 



368 THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. 

we can acknowledge that his epistle refers to Ignatius of 
Antioch. 

Let us attend now to that passage in the letter to the Phi- 
lippians where he is supposed to speak of the Syrian pastor. 
" I exhort all of you that ye obey the word of righteousness, 
and exercise all patience, which ye have seen set forth before 
your eyes, not only in the blessed Ignatius, and Zosimus, and 
Rufus, but also in others of you " * These words suggest to an 
ordinary reader that Polycarp is speaking, not of Ignatius of 
Antioch, but of Ignatius of Philippi. If this Ignatius did not 
belong to the Philippian Church, why, when addressing its 
members, does he speak of Ignatius, Zosimus, Rufus, and 
"OTHERS OF YOU"? Ignatius of Antioch could not have 
been thus described. But who, it may be asked, were Zosi- 
mus and Rufus here mentioned as fellow-surTerers with Igna- 
tius ? They were exactly in the position which the words of 
Polycarp literally indicate ; they were men of Philippi ; and, 
as such, they are commemorated in the " Martyrologies." 2 It 
is impossible, therefore, to avoid the conclusion that the Igna- 
tius of Polycarp was also a Philippian. 

It appears, then, that this testimony of the pastor of Smyrna 
has been strangely misunderstood. Ignatius, as is well known, 
was not a very uncommon name; and several martyrs of the 
ancient Church bore this designation. Cyprian, for example, 
tells us of an Ignatius in Africa who was put to death for the 
profession of Christianity in the former part of the third cent- 
ury. It is evident from the words of Polycarp that there 
was also an Ignatius of Philippi, as well as an Ignatius of 
Antioch. 

It may, however, be objected that the conclusion of this let- 
ter clearly points to Ignatius of Antioch, inasmuch as Polycarp 
speaks of Syria, and of persons interested about Ignatius who 
might shortly be going there. 4 Some critics of high name 

1 ov u6vov ev rolq fiaitapiois 'lyvaTLU. ical Zuaific), kcu Vovtyci a2.Xa nal ev uXkoiq ro'ig 
e£ vfiuv. — § 9. 

3 See Baronius, "Annal. ad Annum. 109," torn, ii., c. 48, and Jacobson's 
"Pat. Apost." ii. 482, note 6. Edit. Oxon., 1838. 

3 Epist. xxxiv., p. 109., 

* - Scripsistis mihi, et vos et Ignatius, ut si quis vadit ad Syriam, deferat 



TESTIMONY OF POLYCARP. 369 

have maintained that this portion of the epistle is destitute 
of authority, and that it has been added by a later hand to 
countenance the Ignatian forgery. 1 But every candid and dis- 
criminating reader may see that the charge is destitute of 
foundation. An Ignatian interpolator would not have so mis- 
managed his business. He would not have framed an appendix 
which, as we shall presently show, testifies against himself. 
The passage to which such exception has been taken is un- 
questionably the true postscript of the letter, for it bears 
internal marks of genuineness. 

In this postscript Polycarp says, " What you know certainly 
both of Ignatius himself, and of those who are with him, com- 
municate." 2 Here is another proof that the Ignatius of 
Polycarp is not Ignatius of Antioch. The Syrian pastor was 
hurried with the utmost expedition to Rome, that he might 
be thrown to the beasts before the approaching termination 
of the public spectacles ; and when he reached the great city, 
was forthwith consigned to martyrdom. 3 But though letters 
had been meanwhile passing between Philippi and Smyrna, 
this Ignatius is still alive. It would appear, too, that Zosimus 
and Rufus, previously named as his partners in tribulation, 
continued to be his companions. Polycarp, therefore, is speak- 
ing of the " patience " of confessors yet " in bonds," 4 and not 
of a man already devoured by the lions. 

Other parts of this postscript are equally embarrassing to 

literas meas quas fecero ad vos." The Greek of Eusebius is somewhat dif- 
ferent, but may express the same sense. See Euseb. iii. 36. There is an 
important variation even in the readings of Eusebius. See Cotelerius, vol. ii., 
p. 191, note 3. 

1 Thus Bunsen, in his " Ignatius von Antiochen und seine Zeit," says, 
"At the present stand-point of the criticism of Ignatius, this passage can 
only be a witness against itself." And again, " The forger of Ignatius has 
interpolated this passage." And again, " The connection is entirely broken 
by that interpolation." (pp. 108, 109). Viewed as a postscript, it is not 
remarkable that the transition is abrupt. 

8 " Et de ipso Ignatio, et de his qui cum eo sunt, quod certius agnoveritis, 
significate." 

8 See the "Acts of his Martyrdom," §§ 10, 12. 

4 See this " Epistle," §§ 1, 9. 
24 



370 THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. 

those who contend for the authority of the Ignatian Epistles. 
Thus Polycarp says, " The Epistles of Ignatius which were sent 
to you by Tiim, and whatever others we have by us, we have 
sent to you." l If these words apply to Ignatius of Antioch, 
it follows that he must have written several letters to the 
Philippians ; and yet it is now almost universally admitted 
that even the one extant epistle addressed to them in his 
name is an impudent fabrication. Again, Polycarp states, 
" Ye have written to me, both ye and Ignatius, that when any 
one goes to Syria, he can carry my letters to you." 2 But no 
such suggestion is to be found, either in the Syriac version of 
the Three Epistles, or in the larger edition known to Euse- 
bius. Could we desire clearer proof that Polycarp must 
here be speaking of another Ignatius, and another corre- 
spondence ? 

The words we have last quoted deserve attentive considera- 
tion. Were a citizen of New York, in the postscript of a let- 
ter to a citizen of London, to suggest that his correspondent 
should take an opportunity of writing to him, when any com- 
mon friend went to Jerusalem, the Englishman might well 
feel perplexed by such a communication. Why should a let- 
ter from London to New York travel round by Palestine? 
Such an arrangement would not, however, be a whit more 
absurd than that seemingly pointed out in this postscript. 
Philippi and Smyrna were not far distant, and there was con- 
siderable intercourse between them ; but Syria, of which Anti- 
och was the capital, was in another quarter of the Empire, and 
Polycarp could have rarely found an individual passing to it 
from " the chief city" of a "part of Macedonia," and travel- 
ling to and fro by Smyrna. This difficulty admits, however, 
of a very simple and satisfactory solution. We have no entire 

1 " Epistolas sane Ignatii, quae transmissse sunt vobis ab eo, et alias, quan- 
tascunque apud nos habuimus, transmisimus vobis." According to the 
Greek of Eusebius we should read, " The letters of Ignatius which were 
sent to us U', ulv ) by him." Either reading is alike perplexing to the advo- 
cates of the Syriac version of the Ignatian Epistles. See Jacobson, ii. 489, 
note 5. 

2 See a preceding note, p. 369. 



TESTIMONY OF POLYCARP. 371 

copy of the epistle in the original Greek, 1 and the text of the 
old Latin version in this place is so corrupt that it is partially 
unintelligible; 2 but the context often aids in the interpreta- 
tion of a manuscript, and here it guides us to the meaning. 
The place mentioned is evidently an island in the ^Egean 
Sea — Syria, Scyra, or Psyria 3 — and the passage thus under- 
stood is quite intelligible. Syria, one of the Cyclades, was 
certainly not on the direct route ; but any one who glances 
at the map may see that a traveller who carried letters either 
to Scyra or Psyria, conveyed them a considerable part of the 
way to Philippi ; and the sentence so interpreted contains 
exactly such a suggestion as befits a postscript, for it points 
out how the correspondence could be maintained. A letter 
left at Scyra or Psyria was likely soon to find a friend to take 
it on to Philippi. 

As it can be thus shown that the letter of Polycarp, when 
tested by impartial criticism, refuses to accredit the Epistles 
ascribed to Ignatius of Antioch, it follows that, with the single 
exception of Origen, no father of the first three centuries has 
noticed this correspondence. Had these letters, at the alleged 
date of their appearance, attracted such attention as they 
themselves indicate, is it possible that no writer for upwards 
of a century after the demise of their reputed author, bestowed 
upon them even a passing recognition ? They convey the im- 
pression that, when Ignatius was on his way to Rome, all Asia 

1 Only two Greek copies are known to exist, both wanting the concluding 
part. See Cotelerius, vol. ii., p. 186, note 1. 

2 It is not easy to understand the meaning of the passage, " Si habueri- 
mus tempus opportunum, sive ego, seu legatus quern misero pro vobis." 
Some words seem to be wanting to complete the sense. 

3 In the first edition of this work it was supposed that Smyrna was the 
word in the original, and it was shown that this very mistake was made 
elsewhere ; but, on reconsideration, the explanation in the text has been 
adopted as preferable. The island of Syros, one of the Cyclades, was some- 
times called Syria (see Homer, Od. xv. 403) ; Scyros was also known as 
Scyra (see Smith's " Dictionary of Ancient Geography ") ; and Psyra was 
occasionally written Psyria (see Dunbar's "Greek Lexicon "). Transcribers 
frequently confounded letters somewhat similar in sound, and thus Psyria 
would be written Syria — the 2 being put for ¥. 



372 THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. 

Minor was moved at his presence — that Greece caught the 
infection of excitement — and that the Western capital itself 
awaited, with something like breathless anxiety, the arrival of 
the illustrious martyr. Strange, indeed, then, that even his 
letter to the Romans is mentioned by no Western father until 
between two and three hundred years after the time of its 
assumed publication ! Nor were Western writers wanting to 
sympathize with its spirit. It would have been quite to the 
taste of Tertullian, and he could have quoted it to show that 
some of the peculiar principles of Montanism had been held 
by a man of the apostolic era. Nor can it be said that had 
the letter then been in existence, it was likely to have escaped 
his observation. He had lived for years in Rome, and was a 
presbyter of the Church of the Imperial city. A man of his 
inquiring spirit, and literary habits, must have been well ac- 
quainted with the Epistle had it obtained currency in Italy. 
But in not one of his numerous treatises does he ever speak 
of it, or even name its alleged author. 1 Hippolytus of Portus 
is another writer who might be expected to know something 
of this production. He lived within a few miles of Rome, and 
he was conversant with the history of its Church and with its 
ecclesiastical memorials. He, as well as Tertullian, could have 
sympathized with the rugged and ascetic spirit pervading the 
Ignatian correspondence. But, even in his treatise against all 
heresies, he has not fortified his arguments by any testimony 
from these letters. He had evidently never heard of the far- 
famed documents. 2 

The conclusion to be drawn from these facts is sufficiently 
obvious. The Ignatian Epistles began to be fabricated in the 
time of Origen ; and the first edition of them appeared, not at 

1 Pearson alleges that the reason why Tertullian does not quote Ignatius 
against the heretics was because he did not require his testimony ! He 
had, forsooth, apostolic evidence. " Quasi vero Ignatii testimonio opus 
esset ad earn rem, cujus testem Apostolum habuit." " Vindiciae," Pars 
prima, caput ix. He finds it convenient, however, to mention Hermas, 
Clement of Rome, Justin Martyr, and many others. 

2 See also in Euseb. v. 28, a long extract from a work against the heresy 
of Artemon, in which various early writers, who asserted that " Christ is 
God and man," are named, and Ignatius omitted. 



HISTORY OF THEIR FABRICATION. 373 

Troas or Smyrna, but in Syria or Palestine. At an early 
period festivals were kept in honor of the martyrs ; and on 
his natal day, 1 why should not the Church of Antioch have 
something to tell of her great Ignatius? The Acts of his 
Martyrdom were written in the former part of the third cent- 
ury^a time when the work of ecclesiastical forgery was rife 2 — 
and the Epistle to the Romans, which is inserted in these 
Acts, is of earlier date than any of the other letters. The 
Epistle to the Ephesians, perhaps, next made its appearance, 
and then followed the Epistle to Polycarp. These letters 
gradually crept into circulation as " The Three Epistles of 
Ignatius, Bishop and Martyr." There is every reason to be- 
lieve that, as edited by Dr. Cureton, they are now presented 
to the public in their original language, as well as in their 
original form. Copies of these short letters are not known to 
be extant in any manuscript either Greek or Latin. Dr. Cure- 
ton has not attempted any explanation of this emphatic fact. 
If the Epistle to the Romans, in its newly discovered form, is 
genuine, how does it happen that there are no previous traces 
of its existence in the Western Church ? How are we to ac- 
count for the extraordinary circumstance that the Church of 
Rome can produce no copy of it in either Greek or Latin ? 
She had every reason to preserve such a document had it ever 
come into her possession ; for, even considered as a pious 
fraud of the third century, the address " to her who sitteth at 
the head in the place of the country of the Romans," 3 is one 

1 See Neander's " General History," by Torrey, i. 455. Octavo edition. 
Edinburgh, 1847. See also Kaye's " Tertullian," p. 415. 

2 The number of spurious writings current in the early ages was very 
great. Shortly after the date mentioned in the text it is well known that 
an individual named Leucius forged the Acts of John, Andrew, Peter, and 
others. See Jones on the," Canon," p. 210, and ii., p. 289. 

3 This is a literal translation of part of the superscription of the letter as 
given by Dr. Cureton himself in his " Epistles of Saint Ignatius," p. 17. In 
the " Corpus Ignatianum " he has somewhat weakened the strength of the 
expression by a more free translation — " To her who presideth in the place 
of the country of the Romans." " Corp. Ignat.," p. 230. Tertullian speaks 
(" De Praescrip.," c. 36) of the " Apostolic sees presiding over their own 
places'" — referring to an arrangement then recently made which recognized 



374 THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. 

of the most ancient testimonies to her early pre-eminence to 
be found in the whole range of ecclesiastical literature. Why 
should she have permitted it to be supplanted by an interpo- 
lated document ? Can any man, who adopts the views of Dr. 
Cureton, fairly answer such an inquiry ? 

The mistake of a name in the postscript of the Epistle of 
Polycarp has had much to do with this Ignatian imposture. 
An island in the JEgean Sea has been confounded with Syria, 
the Eastern Province ; and the error has led to the incubation of 
the whole brood of Ignatian letters. The blunder was adopted 
by Eusebius, 1 and from him passed into general currency. 
We may thus best account for the strange multiplication of 
these Ignatian Epistles. It was clear that the Ignatius spoken 
of by Polycarp had written more letters than what first ap- 
peared, 2 and thus the epistles to the Smyrnaeans, the Magne~ 
sians, the Trallians, and the Philadelphians, in due time 
emerged into notice. At a subsequent date the letters to the 
Philippians, the Antiochians, the Virgin Mary, and others, 
were forthcoming. 

The variety of forms assumed by this Ignatian fraud is not 
the least remarkable circumstance connected with its myste- 
rious history. All the seven Epistles mentioned by Eusebius 
exist in a Longer and a Shorter Recension ; whilst the Syriac 
version exhibits three of them in a reduced size, and another 
edition. It is a curious fact that other spurious productions 
display similar transformations. "A great number of spurious 
or interpolated works of the early ages of Christianity," says 
Dr. Cureton, " are found in two recensions, a Shorter and a 
Longer, as in the instance of the Ignatian Epistles. Thus, 
we find the two Recensions of the Clementines, the two Re- 
censions of the Acts of St. Andrew, .... the Acts of St. 

the precedence of Churches to which Apostles had ministered. This ar- 
rangement, which was unknown in the time of Ignatius, was suggested by 
the disturbances and divisions created by the heretics. Though the words 
in the text may be quoted in support of the claims of the bishop of Rome, 
they do not necessarily imply his presidency over all Churches, but they 
plainly acknowledge his position as at the head of the Churches of Italy. 
1 See Euseb. iii. 36. 2 See preceding note, p. 370. 



VARIOUS RECENSIONS. 375 

Thomas, the Journeying of St. John, the Letter of Pilate to 
Tiberius." * It is still more suspicious that some of these 
spurious writings present a striking similarity in point of style 
to the Ignatian Epistles. 3 The standard coin of the realm is 
seldom put into the crucible, but articles of pewter or of lead 
are freely melted down and recast according to the will of the 
modeller. We can not add a single leaf to a genuine flower, 
but an artificial rose may be exhibited in quite another form 
by a fresh process of manipulation. Such, too, has been the 
history of ancient ecclesiastical records. The genuine works 
of the fathers have come down to us in a state of wonderful 
preservation ; and comparatively few attempts have been 
made, by interpolation or otherwise, to interfere with their in- 
tegrity; 3 but spurious productions were considered legitimate 
subjects for the exercise of the art of the fabricator ; and hence 
the strange discrepancies in their text which have so often 
puzzled their editors. 

1 " Corpus Ignatianum," Intro., p. 86, note. 

2 See " Corpus Ignatianum," pp. 265, 267, 269, 271, 286. 

3 See Blunt 's " Right Use of the Early Fathers." First Series. Lectures 
v. and vi. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES AND THEIR CLAIMS. 
THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE. 

THE history of the Ignatian Epistles may well remind us 
of the story of the Sibylline Books. A female in strange at- 
tire appeared before Tarquin of Rome, offering to sell nine 
manuscripts she had in her possession ; but the king, dis- 
couraged by the price, declined the application. The woman 
withdrew; destroyed the one-third of her literary treasures ; 
and, returning again into the royal presence, demanded the 
same price for what were left. The monarch once more re- 
fused to come up to her terms ; and the mysterious visitor re- 
tired again, and burnt the one-half of her remaining store. 
Her extraordinary conduct excited much astonishment; and, 
on consulting with his augurs, Tarquin was informed that the 
documents she had at her disposal were most valuable, and 
that he should by all means endeavor to secure such a prize. 
The king now willingly paid for the three books not yet com- 
mitted to the flames, the full price originally demanded for 
all the manuscripts. The Ignatian Epistles have experienced 
something like the fate of the Sibylline oracles. In the six- 
teenth century, fifteen letters were brought out from beneath 
the mantle of a hoary antiquity, and offered to the world as 
the productions of the pastor of Antioch. Scholars refused 
to receive them on the terms required, and forthwith eight of 
them were admitted to be forgeries. In the seventeenth 
century, the seven remaining letters, in a somewhat altered 
form, again came forth from obscurity, and claimed to be the 
works of Ignatius. Again, discerning critics refused to ac- 
(376) 



THE CURETONIAN VERSION. 377 

knowledge their pretensions, 1 but curiosity was roused by this 
second apparition, and many expressed an earnest desire to 
obtain a sight of the real epistles. Greece, Syria, Palestine, 
and Egypt were ransacked in search of them, and at length 
three letters are found. The discovery creates general gratu- 
lation ; it is confessed that four of the Epistles, so lately as- 
serted to be genuine, are apocryphal ; and it is boldly said 
that the three now forthcoming are above challenge. 2 But 
Truth still refuses to be compromised, and sternly disowns 
these claimants for her approbation. The internal evidence 
of these three Epistles abundantly attests that, like the last 
three books of the Sibyl, they are only the last shifts of a 
grave imposture. 3 

The candid investigator, who compares the Curetonian 
version of the letters with that previously in circulation, must 
acknowledge that Ignatius, in his new dress, has lost nothing 
of his absurdity and extravagance. The passages of the 
Epistles, formerly felt to be so objectionable, are yet to be 
found here in all their unmitigated folly. Ignatius is still the 
same anti-evangelical formalist, the same puerile boaster, the 
same dreaming mystic, and the same crazy fanatic. These 
are weighty charges, and yet they can be substantiated. But 
we must enter into details, that we may fairly exhibit the 
spirit, and expose the falsehood of these letters. 

I. The style of the Epistles is certainly not above suspicion. 

1 The Master of Trinity College, Cambridge — the prince of English critics 
— rejected the defence of these letters published nearly half a century before 
by Pearson. In 1718 "Cambridge was in a great ferment on account of 
Dr. Bentley having, on occasion of a Divinity Act, made a speech condemn- 
ing the Epistles of St. Ignatius." — Life of Richard Bentley, D.D., by J. 
H. Monk, D.D., Lord Bishop of Gloucester, ii. 44, note, 2d edit. 

2 It would be very unfair to follow up this comparison by speaking of the 
Trustees of the British Museum as the representatives of hierarchal pride 
and power, proceeding, like Tarquin at the instigation of his augurs, to give 
a high price for the manuscripts. These gentlemen have rendered good 
service to the cause of truth and literature by the purchase. 

3 Bunsen rather reluctantly admits that the highest literary authority of 
the present century, the late Dr. Neander, declined to recognize even the 
Syriac version of the Ignatian Epistles. See " Hippolytus and his Age," iv. 
Preface, p. 26. 



378 THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. 

On the ground of style alone, it is, unquestionably, hazardous 
to pronounce a decisive judgment on any document ; but, if 
such an element is ever to be taken into consideration, it can 
not, in this case, be overlooked. Of the seven epistles men- 
tioned by Eusebius, there was one which scholars of the high- 
est reputation always challenged as counterfeit. In style it 
appeared to them so different from the rest of the letters, and 
so unlike what was to be expected from an apostolic minister, 
that some who were prepared to admit the genuineness of the 
other documents, did not hesitate to declare it a forgery. We 
allude to the Epistle to Polycarp. Even Archbishop Ussher 
and Cardinal Bona 1 concurred in its condemnation. It so 
happens, however, that it is one of the three letters recently 
re-edited ; and that, of the three, it has been the least altered. 
If, then, such a man as Ussher be considered a safe and suffi- 
cient judge of the value of an ancient ecclesiastical memorial, 
the Epistle to Polycarp, published by Dr. Cureton, must be 
pronounced spurious. Their editor urges that the letters to 
the Ephesians and Romans, as expurgated in the Syriac 
version, now closely resemble the Epistle to Polycarp, in style ; 
and, if so, may we not fairly infer that, had they been pre- 
sented, in their new form, to the learned Primate of Armagh, 
consistency should have bound him to denounce them also as 
forgeries? 

II. The way in which the Word of God is ignored in these 
Epistles argues strongly for their spuriousness. Every one 
acquainted with the early fathers has observed their frequent 
use of the sacred records. A considerable portion of a chap- 
ter is sometimes introduced in a quotation. 2 Hence were all 
the copies of the Bible lost and the writings of these fathers 
preserved, a large share of the Holy Volume could be recov- 
ered. But Ignatius would contribute nothing to the work of 
restoration ; as, in the whole of the three letters, not a single 

1 See " Corpus Ignat." Introd., p. 51. 

2 Thus, in his " Epistle to the Corinthians," Clemens Romanus, on one 
occasion (§ 16), quotes the whole of the 53d chapter of Isaiah ; and, on an- 
other (§ 18), the whole of the 51st Psalm, with the exception of the last two 
verses. 



THE WORD OF GOD IGNORED. 379 

verse of Scripture is given at length. They, no doubt, oc- 
casionally use Bible phraseology, as without it an ecclesias- 
tical document could not well be written ; but not one promise 
is quoted, and not one testimony from the Word is repeated 
for the edification of the faithful. 1 An apostolic pastor on his 
way to martyrdom would have written very differently. He 
would have reminded his brethren of the " lively oracles," and 
mentioned some of those precious assurances which contributed 
to his own spiritual refreshment. He would have told them 
to have " no confidence in the flesh"; 2 to take unto themselves 
"the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God"; 3 and to 
lay aside every weight and the sin which did so easily beset 
them, " looking unto Jesus."* But, instead of adopting such 
a course, this Ignatius addressed them in the style of a starched 
and straitlaced churchman. " Let your treasures," says he, 
" be your good works. Let your baptism be to you as 
armory." " Look to the bishop that God also may look upon 
you. I will be instead of the souls of those who are subject 
to the bishop, and the presbyters and the deacons." 5 What 
intelligent Christian can believe that a minister, instructed by 

1 How different from the course pursued by Clement of Rome and by 
Polycarp ! Thus Clement says to the Corinthians, " Let us do as it is 
written," and then goes on to quote several passages of Scripture. § 13. 
Polycarp says, " I trust that ye are well exercised in the Holy Scriptures" 
and then proceeds, like Clement, to make some quotations. § 12. 

2 Phil.'iii. 3. 3 Eph. vi. 17. 4 Heb. xii. 1, 2. 

6 " Epistle to Polycarp." Lest the plain English reader should believe 
that the folly of the original is exaggerated in the translation, I beg to say 
that, here and elsewhere, the English version of Dr. Cureton is given word 
for word. After an elaborate attempt to vindicate the claims of the Cure- 
tonian letters, Bishop Lightfoot thus speaks of the seven Epistles of Euse- 
bius : " As regards the substances they contain, many extravagances of sen- 
timent and teaching-, more especially relating to the episcopal offices from 
which the Curetonian letters are free, and which one would not willingly 
believe writ f en by the saint himself" Contemporary Review for Feb., 1875, 
p. 358. The quotation in the text, which is from the Curetonian version, 
attests that there is no- ground for the Bishop's exception in its favor. In 
his articles in the Co7itemporary Review he does not notice, much less grap- 
ple with, the criticisms in these chapters. 



380 THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. 

Paul or Peter, and filling one of the most important stations 
in the Apostolic Church, was verily such an ignorant driveller? 
III. The chronological blunders in these Epistles betray 
their forgery. In the " Acts of the Martyrdom of Ignatius," 
he and Polycarp are represented as " fellow scholars " of the 
Apostle John, 1 and the pastor of Smyrna is supposed to be, 
in point of age, at least as venerable a personage as the pastor 
of Antioch. The letter to Polycarp is evidently written under 
the same impression. Ignatius there says to him, " I praise 
God that I have been deemed worthy of thy countenance, 
which in God I long after." When these words are sup- 
posed to have been penned, Polycarp was only about eight 
and thirty years of age ; a and the Church of Smyrna, with 
which he was connected, did not occupy a very prominent 
place in the Christian commonwealth. Is it credible that a 
man of the mature faith and large experience of Ignatius thus 
addressed so youthful a minister? It is also passing strange 
that the aged martyr committed all the widows of the com- 
munity to his special guardianship, and thought it necessary 
to add, " It is becoming to men and women who marry, that 
they marry by the counsel of the bishop." Was an individual, 
who was himself still comparatively young, the most fitting 
person to give advice as to these matrimonial engagements ? 
A similar mistake as to age is made in the case of Onesimus, 
who is supposed to be bishop of Ephesus. This minister, who 
is understood to be mentioned in the New Testament, 3 is said 
at an early date to have been pastor of the Church of the 
metropolis of the Proconsular Asia ; and the Ignatian forger 
obviously imagined that he was still alive when his hero passed 
through Smyrna on his way to the Western capital. But 
Onesimus perished in the Domitian persecution, 4 so that Ig- 
natius is made to write to a Christian brother who had been 
long in his grave. 5 The fabricator proceeds more cautiously 

1 Sec. 8. 2 See Period ii., sec. ii., chap, ii., p. 367. 

8 Epistle to Philemon, 10. 4 See Daille, lib. ii., c. 13, p. 316. 

5 According to some accounts, Timothy presided over the Church of 
Ephesus until nearly the close of the first century, when he was succeeded 
by Gaius. See Daille, ii., c. 13. Some attempt to get over the difficulty by 



THE ROMAN CHURCH. 381 

in his letter to the Romans. How marvellous that this old 
gentleman, who is willing to pledge his soul for every one who 
would submit to the bishop, does not find it convenient to 
name the bishop of Rome ! The experiment would have been 
somewhat hazardous. The early history of the Roman Church 
was better known than that of any other in the world, and, 
had he here made a mistake, the whole cheat might have been 
at once detected. Though his erudition was so great that he 
could tell " the places of angels," 1 he evidently did not dare 
to commit himself by giving us a piece of earthly information, 
and by telling us who was at the head of the Church of the 
Great City in the ninth year of the reign of Trajan. But the 
same prudence does not prevail throughout the Epistle. He 
here obviously speaks of the Church of Rome, not as she ex- 
isted a few years after the death of Clement, but of the same 
Church as she was known after the death of Victor. In the 
beginning of the second century the Church of the Syrian 
capital did not acknowledge the precedence of her Western 
sister. On the fall of Jerusalem, the Church of Antioch was 
herself the first Christian community in the Empire. She had 
a higher antiquity, a more distinguished prestige, and perhaps 
a more numerous membership than any other Church in ex- 
istence. In the Syrian metropolis the disciples had first been 
called Christians ; there, Barnabas and Paul had been sepa- 
rated to the work to which the Lord had called them ; there, 
Peter had preached ; and there, prophets had labored. But a 
century had brought about a wonderful change. The Church 
of Rome had meanwhile obtained the first place among Chris- 
tian societies ; and, about the middle of the third century, 
" the See of Peter " began to be honored as the centre of 
Catholic unity. Toward the close of the second century, 
many persons of rank and power joined her communion, 2 and 

alleging that there was a second Onesimus in Ephesus, who succeeded Gams, 
but of this there is no evidence whatever. The writer who thought that 
Ignatius had been at school with Polycarp, also believed, and with greater 
reason, that he was contemporary with the Onesimus of the New Testa- 
ment. 

1 " Epistle to the Romans." , 3 Euseb. v. 21. 



382 THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. 

her political influence was soon felt to be so formidable that 
even the Roman Emperor began to be jealous of the Roman 
bishop. 1 But the Ignatian forger did not take into account 
this ecclesiastical revolution. Hence he here incautiously 
speaks in the language of his own age, and writing " to her 
who sitteth at the head in the place of the country of the Ro- 
mans," he says to her, with all due humility, " I am not com- 
manding you like Peter and Paul " 2 — " Ye have taught others" 
— " It is easy for you to do whatsoever you please." 

IV. Various words in these Epistles have a meaning which 
they did not acquire till long after the time of Ignatius. 
Thus, the term employed in the days of the Apostles to de- 
note purity, or chastity, here signifies celibacy^ Even in the 
commencement of the third century those who led a single 
life were beginning to be considered Christians of a superior 
type, as contrasted with those who were married ; and clerical 
celibacy was becoming very fashionable. 4 The Ignatian fab- 
ricator writes under the influence of the popular sentiment. 
" The house of the Church " at Antioch, of which Paul of 
Samosata kept possession after his deposition in A.D. 269/ 

1 See Period ii., sec. i., chap, v., p. 322. 

2 Paul was certainly at Rome, but Peter's presence there is not so clear. 
According to the reading- of some copies of Irenaeus, in the celebrated pas- 
sage, lib. iii., c. 3, § 2, the Church of Rome is said to have been founded by 
" Paul and Peter " (see Stieren's " Irenaeus," i. 428) ; but Ignatius here uses 
the style of expression current in the third century, and speaks of " Peter 
and Paul." 

3 In the Epistle to Polycarp, Ignatius says, " If a man be able in strength 
to continue in chastity {i.e., celibacy), for the honor of the body of our Lord. 
let him continue without boasting." Here the word in the Greek is ayvtia. 
But this word is applied in the New Testament to Timothy, who may have 
been "the husband of one wife." See 1 Tim. iv. 12, and v. 2. It is also 
applied by Polycarp, in his Epistle, to married women. " Let us teach your 
(or our) wives to walk in the faith that is given to them, both in love and 
purity" (ayainj nal ayvtig). — Epistle to the Philippians, § 4. See also "The 
Shepherd of Hennas," book ii., command. 4 ; Cotelerius, i. 87. 

4 This is very evident from the recently discovered work of Hippolytus, as 
well as from other writers of the same period. See Bunsen's " Hippolytus," 
i. p. 312. 

6 Euseb. vii. 30. 



THE WORD "BISHOP." 383 

seems to have been a dwelling appropriated to the use of the 
ecclesiastical functionaries, 1 and the schemer who wrote the 
first draft of these letters evidently believed that the ministers 
of Christ were a brotherhood of bachelors. Hence Ignatius 
is made thus to address Polycarp and his clergy, " Labor to- 
gether one with another ; make the struggle together one with 
another ; run together one with another ; suffer together one 
with another; sleep together one with another ; rise together one 
with another." Polycarp and others of the elders of Smyrna 
were probably married ; a so that some inconvenience might 
have attended this arrangement. 

The word bishop is another term found in these Epistles, 
and employed in a sense which it did not possess at the al- 
leged date of their publication. Every one knows that, in the 
New Testament, it does not signify the chief pastor of a 
Church; but, about the middle of the second century, as will 
subsequently appear, 3 it began to have this acceptation. 
Clement of Rome, writing a few years before the time of the 
martyrdom of Ignatius, uses the words bishop and presbyter 
interchangeably. 4 Polycarp, in his own Epistle, dictated up- 
wards of forty years after the death of the Syrian pastor, still ad- 
heres to the same phraseology. 5 In the Peshito version of the 
New Testament, executed probably in the former half of the 

1 Some have supposed that this was the church of Antioch, but it is not 
likely that Paul cared to retain the church when deserted by the people. 
Besides, the building is called, not the church, but "the house of the 
Church" (t^q kmlrjalaq oIkoc). In the Life of Augustine, by Possidius (cap, 
xxiv.), the building in which the clergy resided is called " Domus ecclesise." 
August, opera i. 53. Edit. Migne, 1861. See also Todd's " St. Patrick," 477, 
Dublin, 1864. 

2 If the reading adopted by Junius, and others, of a passage in the 4th 
chapter of his Epistle be correct, Polycarp must have been a married man, 
and probably had a family. " Let us teach our wives to walk in the faith 
that is given to them, both in love and purity, .... and to bring up their 
children in the instruction and fear of the Lord." See Jacobson's " Pat. 
Apost." ii. 472, note. 

3 Period ii., sec. i Ii., chap. vii. 

4 See his " Epistle to the Corinthians," c. 42, 44, 47, 54. 

5 It is employed likewise by Papias (see Euseb. iii. 39), and even by Ire- 
nseus (Euseb. v. 20). 



384 THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. 

second century, 1 the same terminology prevails. 2 Ignatius, 
however, is far in advance of his generation. When new terms 
are introduced, or when new meanings are attached to desig- 
nations already current, it seldom happens that an old man 
changes his style of speaking. He is apt to persevere, in 
spite of fashion, in the use of the phraseology to which he 
has been accustomed from his childhood. But Ignatius is an 
exception to all such experience, for he repeats the new no- 
menclature with as much flippancy as if he had never heard 
any other. 3 Surely this minister of Antioch is worthy of all 
the celebrity he has attained, for he can not only carry on a 
written correspondence with the dead, but also anticipate by 
half a century even the progress of language! 

V. The puerilities, vaporing, and mysticism of these letters 
proclaim their forgery. We expect an aged apostolic minister, 
on his way to martyrdom, to speak as a man in earnest, to ex- 
press himself with some degree of dignity, and to eschew 
trivial and ridiculous comparisons. But, when treating of a 
grave subject, what can be more silly or indecorous than such 
language as the following: " Ye are raised on high by the en- 
gine of Jesus Christ, which is the cross, and ye are drawn by 
the rope, which is the Holy Ghost, and your pulley is your 
faith." 4 Well may the Christian reader exclaim, with indig- 
nation, as he peruses these words, Is the Holy Ghost then a 
mere rope ? Is that glorious Being who worketh in us to will 
and to do according to His own good pleasure, a mere piece of 

1 See Westcott on the "Canon," pp. 262, 264, 265. 

2 "In the estimation of those able and apostolical men who, in the second 
century, prepared the Syriac version of the New Testament for the use of 
some of the Oriental Churches, the bishop and presbyter of the apostolic 
ordination were titles of the same individual. Hence in texts wherein the 
Greek word episcopos, ' bishop,' occurs, it is rendered in their version by the 

• Syriac word ' Kashisha,' presbyter." — Etheridges Syrian Churches and 
Gospels, pp. 102, 103. 

3 The use of the word catholic m the " Seven Epistles," edited by Ussher, 
is sufficient to discredit them. See "Epist. to Smyrnaeans," § 8. The word 
did not come into use until toward the close of the second century. See 
Period ii., sec. iii., chap, viii., and p. 306, note. 

4 " Epistle to the Ephesians." 



ANXIETY FOR MARTYRDOM. 385 

tackling pertaining to the ecclesiastical machinery, to be moved 
and managed according to the dictation of Bishop Ignatius? 1 
But the frivolity of this impostor is equalled by his gasconade. 
He thus tantalizes the Romans with an account of his attain- 
ments, " I am able to write to you heavenly things, but I fear 
lest I should do you an injury!' . ..." I am able to know 
heavenly things, and the places of angels, and the station of 
powers that are visible and invisible." Where did he gather 
all this recondite lore? Certainly not from the Old or New 
Testament. May we not safely pronounce this man to be one 
who seeks to be wise above what is written, " intruding into 
those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his 
fleshly mind " ? a He seems, indeed, to have himself had some 
suspicion that such was his character, for he says, again, to his 
brethren of the Western metropolis, " I know many things in 
God, but I moderate myself that I may not perish through 
boasting ; for now it is becoming to me that I should fear the 
more abundantly, and should not look to those that puff me up." 
Let us now hear a specimen of the mysticism of this dotard. 
" There was hidden from the Ruler of this world the virginity 
of Mary, and the birth of our Lord, and the three mysteries 
of the shout, which were done in the quietness of God by 
means of the star, and here by the manifestation of the Son 
magic began to be dissolved." 3 Who can undertake to expound 
such jargon ? W r hat are we to understand by " the quietness 
of God " ? Who can tell how " the three mysteries of the 
shout " were " done by means of the star" ? 

VI. The unhallowed and insane anxiety for martyrdom which 
appears throughout these letters is another decisive proof of 
their fabrication. He who was, in the highest sense, the 
Faithful Witness betrayed no fanatic impatience for the horrid 
tragedy of crucifixion ; and, true to the promptings of His 

1 Daille has well observed, " Funi Dei quidem verbum, ministerium, 
beneficia non inepte comparaveris ; Spiritum vero, qui his, ut sic dicam, 
divinae benignitatis funiculis, ad nos movendos et attrahendos utitur, ipsi 
illi quo utitur, funi comparare, ab omni ratione alienum est." — Lib. ii., c. 27, 
pp. 409, 410. 

5 Col. ii. 18. 3 "Epistle to the Ephesians." 

25 



386 THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. 

human nature, He prayed, in the very crisis of His agony, " 
my Father, if it be possible ; let this cup pass from me." ' The 
Scriptures represent the most exalted saints as shrinking in- 
stinctively from suffering. In the prophecy announcing the 
violent death of Peter, it is intimated that even the intrepid 
apostle of the circumcision should feel disposed to recoil from 
the bloody ordeal. " When thou shalt be old," said our Lord 
to him, " thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall 
gird thee, and carry thee zvhither thou wouldest not."* Paul 
mentions with thankfulness how, on a critical occasion, the 
Lord stood with him, and "delivered" him " out of the 
mouth of the lion." : Long after the apostolic age, the same 
spirit continued to be cherishecl, and hence we are told of 
Polycarp that, even when bowed down by the weight of 
years, he felt it right to retire out of the way of those who 
sought his destruction. The disciples, whom he had so long 
taught, took the same view of Christian duty ; and accordingly, 
in the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna, which records his 
martyrdom, the conduct of those who " present themselves of 
their own accord to the trial" is emphatically condemned. 4 
" We do not," say the believers of Smyrna, " commend those 
who offer themselves to persecution, seeing the Gospel teaches no 
such tiling." 6 But a man who enjoyed much higher advan- 
tages than Polycarp — a minister who was contemporary with 
all the apostles — a ruler of the Church who occupied a far 
more prominent and influential position than the pastor of 
Smyrna, is exhibited in the legend of his martyrdom as appear- 
ing "of his own free will" 8 at the judgment-seat of the Em- 
peror, and as manifesting the utmost anxiety to be delivered 

1 Matt. xxvi. 39. 2 John xxi. 18. 3 2 Tim. iv. 17. 

4 We have here an additional and very clear proof that Polycarp, in his 
Epistle, is not referring to Ignatius of Antioch. Instead of pronouncing the 
letters now current as treating " of faith and. patience, and of all things that 
pertain to edification," he would have condemned them as specimens of 
folly, impatience, and presumption. Dr. Cureton seems to think that, be- 
cause Ignatius was an old man, he was at liberty to throw away his life 
("Corp. Ignat.," p. 321) ; but Polycarp was still older, and he thought dif- 
ferently. 

8 Sec. 4. 6 See " Corpus Ignatianum," p. 253. 



WHEN FABRICATED. 3S7 

into the mouth of the lion. In the commencement of the sec- 
ond century the Churches of Rome and Ephesus possessed as 
much spiritual enlightenment as any other Churches in the 
world, and it is a libel on their Christianity to suppose that 
they could have listened with any measure of complacency to 
the senseless ravings found even in the recent edition of the 
Ignatian Letters. 1 The writer is made to assure the believers 
in these great cities that he has an unquenchable desire to be 
eaten alive, and he beseeches them to pray that he may enjoy 
this singular gratification. " I hope," says he, "through your 
prayers that I shall be devoured by the beasts in Rome." 2 .... 
" I beg of you, be not with me in the love that is not in its 
season. Leave me, that I maybe for the beasts, that by means 
of them I may be worthy of God With provoking pro- 
voke ye the beasts that they may be a grave for me, and may 
leave nothing of my body, that not even when I am fallen 

asleep may I be a burden upon any man I rejoice in 

the beasts which are prepared for me, and I pray that they may 
be quickly found for me, and I will provoke them that they may 
quickly devour me." 3 Every man jealous for the honor of 
primitive Christianity should be slow to believe that an apos- 
tolic preacher addressed such outrageous folly to apostolic 
Churches. 

When reviewing the external evidence in support of these 
Epistles, we have had occasion to show that they were fabri- 
cated in the former part of the third century. The internal 
evidence corroborates the same conclusion. Ecclesiastical 
history attests that during the fifty years preceding the death 
of Cyprian, 4 the principles here put forward were fast gaining 
ascendency. As early as the days of Tertullian, ritualism was 

1 The reader is to understand that all the extracts given in the text are 
from the Syriac version of the " Three Epistles." 

2 " Epistle to the Ephesians." 

3 " Epistle to the Romans." Pearson can see nothing but the perfection 
of piety in all this. " In quibus nihil putidum, nihil odiosum, nihil inscite 
aut imprudentcr scriptum, est." . . . . " Omnia cum pia, legitima, prasclara." 
— Vindiciiz, pars secunda, c. ix. 

4 From A.D. 208 to A.D. 258. 



388 THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. 

rapidly supplanting the freedom of evangelical worship ; bap- 
tism was beginning to be viewed as an " armor " of marvellous 
potency ; ' the tradition that the great Church of the West had 
been founded by Peter and Paul was now extensively propa- 
gated; and there was an increasing disposition throughout the 
Empire to recognize the precedence of " her who sitteth at the 
head in the place of the country of the Romans." It is ap- 
parent from the writings of Cyprian that in some quarters the 
" church system " was already matured. The language as- 
cribed to Ignatius — " Be careful for unanimity, than which 
there is nothing more excellent " 2 — then expressed a prevailing 
sentiment. To maintain unity was considered a higher duty 
than to uphold truth, and to be subject to the bishop was 
deemed one of the greatest of evangelical virtues. Celibacy 
was then confounded with chastity, and mysticism was exten- 
sively occupying the place of scriptural knowledge and intel- 
ligent conviction. And the admiration of martyrdom which 
presents itself in such a startling form in these Epistles was 
one of the characteristics of the period. Paul taught that a 
man may give his body to be burned and yet want the spirit 
of the Gospel; 3 but Origen does not scruple to describe mar- 
tyrdom as " the cup of salvation," the baptism which cleanses 
the sufferer, the act which makes his blood precious in God's 
sight to the redemption of others. 4 Do not all these circum- 
stances combined supply abundant proof that these Epistles 
were written in the time of this Alexandrian father? 5 

1 Thus in the "Acts of Paul and Thecla," fabricated about the beginning 
of the third century, Thecla says — "Give me the seal of Christ {i.e. baptism) 
and no temptation shall touch me," c. 18. See Jones on. the " Canon of the 
New Testament," ii., p. 312. 

9 " Epistle to Polycarp." 3 1 Cor. xiii. 3. 

4 See Blunt's " Early Fathers," p. 237. See also Origen's " Exhortation 
to Martyrdom," §§ 27, 30, 50. 

6 According to Dr. Lee, a strenuous advocate for the Syriac version of the 
" Three Epistles," this translation, as he supposes it to be, was made, " not 
later perhaps than the close of the second, or beginning of the third cent- 
aury." " Corpus Ignat.," Introd., p. 86, note. Dr. Cureton occasionally 
supplies strong presumptive evidence that the translation has been made, 
not from Greek into Syriac, but from Syriac into Greek. " Cor. Ignat.," p. 
278. 



PEARSON AND CALVIN. 389 

It is truly wonderful that men, such as Dr. Cureton, have 
permitted themselves to be befooled by these Syriac manu- 
scripts. It is still more extraordinary that writers, such as 
the pious and amiable Milner, 1 have published, with all grav- 
ity, the rhapsodies of Ignatius for the edification of their read- 
ers. It would almost appear as if the name Bishop has such a 
magic influence on some honest and enlightened Episcopa- 
lians, that when the interests of their denomination are sup. 
posed to be concerned, they can be induced to close their eyes 
against the plainest dictates of common sense and the clearest 
light of historical demonstration. In deciding on matters of 
fact the spirit of party should never be permitted to interfere. 
Truth is the common property of the catholic Church ; and no 
good and holy cause can require the support of an apocryphal 
correspondence. 

It is no mean proof of the sagacity of the great Calvin, that, 
upwards of three hundred years ago, he passed a sweeping sen- 
tence of condemnation on these Ignatian Epistles. At the 
time, many were startled by the boldness of his language, and 
it was thought that he was somewhat precipitate in pronounc- 
ing such a decisive judgment. But he saw distinctly, and he 
therefore spoke fearlessly. There is a far more intimate con- 
nection than many are disposed to believe between sound the- 
ology and sound criticism, for a right knowledge of the Word 
of God strengthens the intellectual vision, and assists in the 
detection of error wherever it may reveal itself. Had Pearson 
enjoyed the same clear views of Gospel truth as the Reformer 
of Geneva, he would not have wasted so many precious years 

1 Though Milner, in his " History of the Church of Christ," quotes these 
letters so freely, he seems to have scarcely turned his attention to the con- 
troversy respecting them. Hence he intimates that Ussher reckoned seven 
of them genuine, though it is notorious that the Primate of Armagh rejected 
the Epistle to Polycarp. (See Milner, cent, ii., chap, i.) Others, as well as 
Milner, who have written respecting these Epistles, have committed simi- 
lar mistakes. Thus, Dr. Elrington, Regius Professor of Divinity in Trinity 
College, Dublin, the recent editor of " Ussher's Works," when referring to 
the Primate's share in this controversy, speaks of " the recent discovery of 
a Syriac version of four Epistles by Mr. Cureton ! " " Life of Ussher," p. 
235, note. 



390 THE 1GNATIAN EPISTLES. 

in writing a learned vindication of the nonsense attributed to 
Ignatius. Calvin knew that an apostolic man was acquainted 
with apostolic doctrine, and he saw that these letters were the 
productions of an age when the pure light of Christianity was 
greatly obscured. Hence he denounced them so emphati- 
cally : and time has verified his deliverance. His language 
respecting them has been often quoted, but we feel we can 
not more appropriately close our observations on this subject 
than by another repetition of it. " There is nothing more 
abominable than that trash which is in circulation under the 
name of Ignatius.' ' 

1 " Instit.," lib. i., c. xiii., § 29. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE GNOSTICS, THE MONTANISTS, AND THE MANICHiEANS. 

THE proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah was the com- 
mencement of a new era in the history of the world. The 
Gospel spread on all sides with great rapidity ; it was felt to 
be a religion for the common people ; and some individuals of 
highly cultivated minds soon acknowledged its authority. For 
a time its progress was impeded by the persecutions of Nero 
and Domitian ; but, in the beginning of the second century, it 
started upon a new career of prosperous advancement, and 
quickly acquired such a position that the most distinguished 
scholars and philosophers could no longer overlook its preten- 
sions. In the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian, a considerable 
number of men of learning were already in its ranks ; but, on 
the whole, it derived very equivocal aid from the presence of 
these new adherents. Not a few of the literati who joined its 
standard attempted to corrupt it ; and one hundred and twenty 
years after the death of the Apostle John, the champions of 
orthodoxy had to contend against no less than thirty-two 
heresies. 1 

Of those who adulterated the Gospel, the Gnostics were by 
far the most subtle, the most active, and the most formidable. 
The leaders of the party were all men of education; and as 
they were to be found chiefly in the large cities, the Church 
in these centres of influence was in no small degree embarrassed 
and endangered by their speculations. Some of the peculiarities 
of Gnosticism have been already noticed ;* but as it made most 

1 See Bunsen's " Hippolytus," i., p. 27. 

2 Period i., sec. ii., chap, iii., pp. 182, 183. 

(39i) 



392 THE GNOSTICS. 

progress and awakened most anxiety during the second cent- 
ury, we must here advert more distinctly to its outlines. The 
three great antagonists of the Gospel were the Grecian phi- 
losophy, the heathen mythology, and a degenerate Judaism ; 
and Gnosticism was an attempt to effect a compromise 
between Christianity and these rivals. As might have been 
expected, the attempt met with much encouragement ; for 
many, who hesitated to accept the new religion uncondition- 
ally, were constrained to acknowledge that it exhibited many 
elements of truth and divinity ; and they were, therefore, pre- 
pared to look on it with favor when presented to them in an 
altered shape and furnished with certain favorite appendages. 
The Gnostics called themselves believers ; and their most cele- 
brated teachers would willingly have remained in the bosom 
of the Church ; but it was soon discovered that their principles 
were subversive of the New Testament revelation ; and they 
were accordingly excluded from ecclesiastical fellowship. 
|/Gnosticism assumed a variety of forms, and almost every 
one of its teachers had his own distinctive creed ; but, as a 
system, it was always known by certain remarkable features. 
It uniformly ignored the doctrine that God made all things 
out of nothing; 1 and, taking for granted the eternity of mat- 
ter, it tried to account, on philosophical principles, for the 
moral and spiritual phenomena of the world which we inhabit. 
The Gnosis? or knowledge, which it supplied, and from which 
it derived its designation, was a strange congeries of wild 
speculations. The Scriptures describe the Most High as 
humbling Himself to behold the things that are on earth, 3 as 
exercising a constant providence over all His creatures, as 
decking the lilies of the valley, and as numbering the very 
hairs of our heads ; but Gnosticism exhibited the Supreme 
God as separated by an immeasurable interval from matter, 
and as having no direct communication with anything thus 
contaminated. The theory by means of which many of its 
adherents endeavored to solve the problem of the origin of 

1 See Tertullian, " Adversus Hermogenem," c. x. and iv. 

2 yvcjo-if. 3 Ps. cxiii. 6. 



THE GNOSTICS. 393 

evil, 1 and to trace the connection between the finite and the 
infinite, was not without ingenuity. They maintained that a 
series of ^Eons, or divine beings, emanated from the Primal 
Essence ; but, as sound issuing from a given point gradually 
becomes fainter till it is finally lost in silence, each generation 
of /Eons, as it receded from the great Fountain of Spiritual 
Existence, lost somewhat of the vigor of divinity ; and at 
length an /Eon was produced without power sufficient to 
maintain its place in the Pleroma, or habitation of the God- 
head. This scheme of a series of /Eons of gradually decreas- 
ing excellence was designed to show how, from an Almighty 
and Perfect Intelligence, a weak and erring being could be 
generated. There were Gnostics who carried the principle of 
attenuation so far as to teach that the inhabitants of the 
celestial world were distributed into no less than three hun- 
dred and sixty-five heavens, 2 each inferior to the other. Ac- 
cording to some of these systems, an /Eon removed by many 
emanations from the source of Deity, and, in consequence, 
possessed of comparatively little strength, passed over the 
bounds of the Pleroma, and imparted life to matter. Another 
Power, called the Demiurge, was then produced, who, out of 
the materials already in existence, fashioned the present world. 
The human race, ushered, under such circumstances, upon the 
stage of time, are ignorant of the true God, and in bondage to 
corrupt matter. But all men are not in a state of equal degra- 
dation. Some possess a spiritual nature ; some, a physical or 
animal nature ; and some, only a corporeal or carnal nature. 
Jesus at length appeared ; and, at His baptism in the Jordan, 
Christ, a powerful /Eon, joined Him, that He might be fitted 
for redeeming souls from the ignorance and slavery in which 
they are entangled. This Saviour taught the human family 
the knowledge of the true God. Jesus was seized and led to 

1 See Tertullian, " Adversus Marcionem," lib. i., c. 2. About this time 
many works were written on the subject. Eusebius mentions a publication 
by Irenaeus, " On Sovereignty, or on the Truth that God is not the Author 
of Evil" and another by Maximus on " The Origin of Evil'' Euseb. v. 
20, 27. 

1 Irenaeus, " Contra Haeres." lib. i., c. 24, § 7. 



394 THE DEMIURGE. 

crucifixion, and the JEon Christ now departed from Him ; 
but, as His body was composed of the finest ethereal elements, 
and was, in fact, a phantom, He did not really suffer on the 
accursed tree. Many of the Gnostics taught that there are 
two spheres of future enjoyment. They held that, whilst the 
spiritual natures shall be restored to the Pleroma, the physical 
or animal natures shall be admitted to an inferior state of hap- 
piness; and that such souls as are found to be incapable of 
purification shall be consigned to perdition or annihilation. 

According to all the Gnostics, the Demiurge, or maker of 
this world, is far inferior to the Supreme Deity; but these 
system-builders were by no means agreed as to his position 
and his functions. Some of them regarded him as an ^Eon of 
inferior intelligence, who acted in obedience to the will of the 
Great God ; others conceived that he was no other than the 
God of the Jews, who, in their estimation, was a Being of rug- 
ged and intractable character ; whilst others contended that 
he was an Evil Power at open war with the righteous Sov- 
ereign of the universe. The Gnostics also differed in their 
views respecting matter. Those of them who were Egyptians, 
and who had been addicted to the study of the Platonic phi- 
losophy, held matter to be inert till impregnated with life ; but 
the Syrians, who borrowed much from the Oriental theology, 
taught that it was eternally subject to a Lord, or Ruler, who 
had been perpetually at variance with the Great God of the 
Pleroma. 

Two of the most distinguished Gnostic teachers who flour- 
ished in the early part of the second century were Saturninus 
of Antioch and Basilides of Alexandria. 1 Valentine, who was 
somewhat later, and who first excited attention at Rome about 
A.D. 140, was still more celebrated. He taught that in the 
Pleroma there are fifteen male and fifteen female ^Eons, whom 
he distinguished by their names; and he even proceeded to 
point out how they are distributed into married pairs: Some 

1 Irenaeus, lib. i., c. 24. According to Clemens Alexandrinus, Basilides 
flourished in the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. " Stromata," lib. 
vii., Opera, p. 764. 



VALENTINE AND MARCION. 395 

have supposed that certain deep philosophical truths were 
here concealed by him under the veil of allegory. As he, like 
others of the same class, conveyed parts of his Gnosis only 
into the ears of the initiate^, the explanation of its symbols 
was reserved for those who were thus made acquainted with 
its secret wisdom. It has been alleged that he personified the 
attributes of God, and that the ^Eons, whom he names and 
joins together, are simply those divine perfections which, 
when combined, are fitted to produce the most remarkable 
results. Thus, he associated Profundity and Thought, Intelli- 
gence and Truth, Reason and Life} His system had many at- 
tractions for his age, as his disciples, in considerable numbers, 
were soon found both in the East and in the West. 

When Valentine was at Rome, Marcion, another heresiarch 
of the same class, was also in the great metropolis. 2 This 
man was born in Pontus, and though some of the fathers 
have attempted to fix a stain on his early reputation, his sub- 
sequent character was irreproachable. 3 He was one of the 
most upright and amiable of the Gnostics. These errorists 
were charged by their orthodox antagonists with gross immor- 
ality ; and there was often too much ground for the accusa- 
tion ; for some of them, such as Carpocrates, 4 avowed and 
encouraged the most shameless licentiousness; but others, 
such as Marcion, were noted for their ascetic strictness. All 
the more respectable Gnostics recommended themselves to 
public confidence by the austerity of their discipline. They 
enjoined rigorous fasting, and inculcated abstinence from 
wine, flesh-meat, and marriage. The Oriental theology, as 
well as the Platonic philosophy, sanctioned such a mode of 
living ; and, therefore, those by whom it was practiced were 
in a favorable position for gaining the public ear when they 
came forward as theological instructors. 

1 Tlvdbg not evvota, vovg koX akifiua, \6yog Kal &rj. 

2 According to some, Valentine was the disciple of Marcion. Clemens 
Alexandrinus states that Marcion was his senior. " Strom." lib. viii. Ter- 
tullian says expressly that Valentine was at one time the disciple of Mar- 
cion. " De Carne Christi," c. 1. 

3 See Neander's "General History," by Torrey, ii. pp. 171, 174, notes. 

4 See Kaye's " Clement of Alexandria," pp. 316, 317. 



396 ERRORS OF GNOSTICISM. 

Gnosticism appears to us a most fantastic system ; but, in 
the second century, it was dreaded as a very formidable adver- 
sary by the Church ; and the extent to which it spread attests 
that it possessed not a few of the elements of popularity. Its 
doctrine of JEons, or Divine Emanations, was quite in ac- 
cordance with theories which had then gained extensive cur- 
rency ; and its account of the formation of the present world 
was countenanced by established modes of thinking. Many 
who cherished a hereditary prejudice against Judaism were 
gratified by the announcement that the Demiurge was no 
other than the God of the Israelites ; and many more were 
flattered by the statement that some souls are essentially 
purer and better than others. 1 The age was sunk in sensu- 
ality ; and, as it was the great boast of the heresiarchs that 
their Gnosis secured freedom from the dominion of the flesh, 
multitudes, who secretly sighed for deliverance, were thus in- 
duced to test its efficacy. But Gnosticism, in whatever form 
it presented itself, was a miserable perversion of the Gospel. 
Some of its teachers entirely rejected the Old Testament ; 
others reduced its history to a myth ; and all mutilated and 
misinterpreted the writings of the apostles and evangelists. 
Like the Jewish Cabalists, who made void the law of God 
by expositions which fancy suggested and tradition embalmed, 
the Gnostics, by their far-fetched and unnatural cenments, 
threw an air of obscurity over the plainest passages of the 
New Testament. Some of them, aware that they could de- 
rive no support from the inspired records, actually fabricated 
Gospels, and affixed to them the names of apostles or evan- 
gelists, in the hope of thus obtaining credit for the spurious 
documents. 2 Whilst Gnosticism in this way set aside the 
authority of the Word of God, it also lowered the dignity of 
the Saviour; and even when Christ was most favorably repre- 
sented by it, He was but an ^Eon removed at the distance of 

1 The Ophites carried this feeling so far as to maintain that the serpent 
which deceived Eve was no other than the divine ^Eon Sophia, or Wisdom 
who thus weakened the power of Ialdabaoth, or the Demiurge. 

2 See Mosheim, " De Causis Suppositorum Librorum inter Christianos 
Seeculi Primi et Secundi." " Dissert, ad Hist. Eccl. Pertin." vol. i. 221. 



MONTANUS. 397 

several intermediate generations from the Supreme Ruler of 
the universe. The propagators of this system altogether mis- 
conceived the scope of the Gospel dispensation. They substi- 
tuted salvation by carnal ordinances for salvation by faith ; 
they represented man in his natural state rather as an ignora- 
mus than a sinner; and, whilst they absurdly magnified their 
own Gnosis, they entirely discarded the doctrine of a vicari- 
ous atonement. 

Shortly after the middle of the second century the Church 
began to be troubled by a heresy in some respects very differ- 
ent from Gnosticism. At that time the persecuting spirit dis- 
played by Marcus Aurelius filled the Christians throughout 
the Empire with alarm, and those of them who were given to 
despondency began to entertain the most gloomy anticipa- 
tions. • An individual, named Montanus, who laid claim to 
prophetic endowments, now appeared in a village on the bor- 
ders of Phrygia; and though he possessed a rather mean 
capacity, his discipline was so suited to the taste of many, and 
the predictions which he uttered so accorded with prevailing 
apprehensions, that he soon created a deep impression. When 
he first came forward in the character of a Divine Instructor 
he had been recently converted to Christianity; and he 
strangely misapprehended the nature of the Gospel. When 
he delivered his pretended communications from heaven, he 
wrought himself up into a state of frenzied excitement. His 
countrymen, who had been accustomed to witness the ecsta- 
sies of the priests of Bacchus and Cybele, saw proofs of a 
divine impulse in his bodily contortions ; and some of them 
at once acknowledged his extraordinary mission. By means 
of two wealthy female associates, named Priscilla and Maxi- 
milla, who also professed to utter prophecies, Montanus was 
enabled rapidly to extend his influence. His fame spread 
abroad on all sides ; and, in a few years, he had followers in 
Europe and Africa, as well as in Asia. 

This heresiarch did not attempt to overturn the creed of 
the Church. He was neither a profound thinker nor a logical 
reasoner; and he certainly had not maturely studied the 
science of theology. But he possessed an ardent tempera- 



398 MONTANUS. 

ment, and he promulgated the suggestions of his own fanati- 
cism as the dictates of inspiration. The doctrine of the per- 
sonal reign of Christ during the millennium formed a promi- 
nent topic in his Vninistrations. 1 He maintained that the dis- 
cipline of the Church had been left incomplete by the apos- 
tles, and that he was empowered to supply a better code of 
regulations. According to some he proclaimed himself the 
Paraclete ; but, if so, he most grievously belied his assumed 
name, for his system was far better fitted to induce despond- 
ency than to inspire comfort. All his precepts were con- 
ceived in the sour and contracted spirit of mere ritualism. 
He insisted upon long fasts ; condemned second marriages ; a 
inveighed against all who endeavored to save themselves by 
flight in times of persecution ; and asserted that such as had 
once been guilty of any heinous transgression should never 
again be admitted to ecclesiastical fellowship. Whilst he pro- 
mulgated this stern discipline, he at the same time delivered 
the most dismal predictions, announcing, among other things, 
the speedy catastrophe of the Roman Empire. He also gave 
out that the Phrygian village where he ministered was to be- 
come the New Jerusalem of renovated Christianity. 

But the Church was still too strongly impregnated with the 
free spirit of the Gospel to submit to such a prophet as Mon- 
tanus. He had, however, powerful advocates, and even a 
Roman bishop at one time gave him countenance. 3 Though 
his discipline commended itself to the morose and pharisaical, 
it was rejected by those who rightly understood the mystery 

1 His great text was Rev. xx. 6, 7. Hence some now began to dispute 
the authority of the Apocalypse. 

2 Others, not connected with Montanus, but who lived about the same 
time, held the same views on the subject of marriage. Thus, Athenago- 
ras says, " A second marriage is by us esteemed a specious adultery." — 
Apology, § 33. 

3 " Nam idem (Praxeas) tunc Episcopum Romanum, agnoscentem jam 
prophetias Montani, Priscse, Maximillae, et ex ea agnitione pacem ecclesiis 
Asia? et Phrygian inferentem, falsa deipsis prophetis et ecclesiis eorum adse- 
verando et prascessorum ejus auctoritates defendendo coegit et litteras pacis 
revocare jam emissas et a proposito recipiendorum charismatum conces- 
sare." — Tertullian, Adv. Praxean., c. i. 



mani. 399 

of godliness. Several councils were held to discuss its merits, 
and it was emphatically condemned. 1 The signal failure of 
some of the Montanist predictions had greatly lowered the 
credit of the party ; Montanus was pronounced a false proph- 
et ; and though the sect was supported by Tertullian, the 
most vigorous writer of the age, it gradually ceased to attract 
notice. 2 

A century after the appearance of Montanus, another indi- 
vidual, in a more remote part of Asia, acquired great notoriety 
as a heresiarch. The doctrine of two First Principles, a good 
deity and an evil deity, had been long current in the East. 
Even in the days of Isaiah we trace its existence, for there is 
a most significant allusion to it in one of his prophecies, in 
which Jehovah is represented as saying, " I am the Lord, 

and there is none else, there is no God beside me / 

form the light and create darkness ; I make peace and create 
evil : I the Lord do all these things." 3 About the fifth cent- 
ury before Christ, the Persian theology had been reformed by 
Zoroaster, and the subordination of the two Principles to one 
God, the author of both, had been acknowledged as an article 
of the established creed. In the early part of the third cent- 
ury of the Christian era, there was a struggle between the ad- 
herents of the old and the new faith of Parsism ; and the 
supporters of the views of Zoroaster had been again success- 
ful. But a considerable party still refused to relinquish the 
doctrine of the independence of the two Principles ; and some 
of these joined themselves to Mani, a Persian by birth, who, 
in the latter half of the third century, became distinguished 
as the propagator of a species of mongrel Christianity. This 
man, who was born about A.D. 240, possessed genius of a high 
order. Though he finished his career when he was only thirty- 
seven years of age, he had already risen to eminence among 
his countrymen, and attracted the notice of several successive 

1 Euseb, v. 16. 

2 It maintained, however, a lingering existence for several centuries. Even 
Justinian, about A.D. 530, enacts laws against the Montanists or Tertul- 
lianists. 

s Isaiah xlv. 5, 7. 



400 MANI. 

sovereigns. He was a skilful physician, an accomplished 
painter, and an excellent astronomer, as well as an acute meta- 
physician. Like Montanus, he laid claim to a divine commis- 
sion, and alleged that he was the Paraclete who was promised 
to guide into all truth. He maintained that there are two 
First Principles of all things, light and darkness : God, in the 
kingdom of light, and the devil, in the kingdom of darkness, 
have existed from eternity. Mani thus accounted for the 
phenomena of the world around us : " Over the kingdom of 
light," said this heresiarch, " ruled God the Father, eternal in 
His sacred race, glorious in His might, the truth by His very 

essence But the Father himself, glorious in His majesty, 

incomprehensible in His greatness, has united with Himself 
blessed and glorious ^Eons, in number and greatness surpass- 
ing estimation." ' He taught that Christ came to liberate the 
light from the darkness, and that he himself was now deputed 
to reveal the mysteries of the universe, and to assist men in 
recovering their freedom. He rejected a great portion of the 
canon of Scripture, and substituted certain writings of his 
own, which his followers were to receive as of divine authority. 
His disciples, called Manichees, or Manichaeans, assumed the 
name of a Church, and were divided into two classes, the 
Elect and the Hearers. The Elect, who were comparatively 
few, were the sacred order. They alone were made acquaint- 
ed with the mysteries, or more recondite doctrines, of the 
sect ; they practiced extreme abstinence ; they subsisted 
chiefly upon olives ; a and they lived in celibacy. They were 
not to kill, or even v/ound, an animal ; neither were they to 
pull up a vegetable or pluck a flower. The Hearers were per- 
mitted to share in the business and pleasures of the world, 
but they were taught only the elements of the system. After 
death, according to Mani, souls do not pass immediately into 
the world of light. They must first undergo a twofold 
purification : one, by water in the moon ; another, by fire in 
the sun. 

1 Augustin, "Contra Epist. Fundamenti," c. 13. 

2 On the ground that their oil is the food of light! Schaff's " History of 
the Christian Church," p. 249. 



MORTAL AND VENIAL SINS. 40 1 

Mani had provoked the enmity of the Magians ; and, at 
their instigation, he was consigned, about A.D. 277, by order of 
the Persian monarch, to a cruel and ignominious death. But 
the sect which he had organized did not die along with him. 
His system was well fitted to please the Oriental fancy ; its 
promise of a higher wisdom to those who obtained admission 
into the class of the Elect encouraged the credulity of the 
auditors ; and, to such as had not carefully studied the Chris- 
tian revelation, its hypothesis of a Good and of an Evil Deity 
accounted rather plausibly for the mingled good and evil of 
our present existence. The Manichseans were exposed to much 
suffering in the country where they first appeared ; and, as a 
sect of Persian origin, they were oppressed by the Roman 
government ; but they were not extinguished by persecution, 
and, far down in the Middle Ages, they still occasionally 
figure in the drama of history. 

Synods and councils may pass resolutions condemnatory of 
false doctrine, but it is more difficult to counteract the seduc- 
tion of the principles from which heresies derive their influ- 
ence. The Gnostics, the Montanists, and the Manichaeans, owed 
much of their strength to fallacies and superstitions with which 
the Christian teachers of the age were not fully prepared to 
grapple ; and hence it was that, whilst the errorists themselves 
were denounced by ecclesiastical authority, a large portion of 
their peculiar leaven found its way into the Church and gradu- 
ally produced an immense change in its doctrine and disci- 
pline. A notice of the more important of the false sentiments 
and dangerous practices which the heretics propagated and 
the catholics adopted, may enable us to estimate the amount 
of the damage which the cause of truth now sustained. 

The Montanists recognized the distinction of venial and 
mortal sins. They held that a professed disciple, guilty of 
what they called mortal sin, should never again be admitted 
to sealing ordinances. 1 It is apparent from the writings of 

J Du Pin says that " Tertullian was the first that spoke distinctly of the 
distinction of great and little sins " (I., 286.) We find him, after he became 
a Montanist, dwelling on the distinction of venial and mortal sins. See 
Kaye's " Tertullian," pp. 255, 339. 
26 



402 MORTAL AND VENIAL SINS. 

Hippolytus, the famous bishop of Portus, that, in the early- 
part of the third century, some of the most influential of the 
catholics cordially supported this principle. Soon afterward 
it was openly advocated by a powerful party in the Church of 
Rome, and its rejection by Cornelius, then at the head of that 
community, led to the schism of Novatian. But the distinc- 
tion of venial and mortal sins, on which it proceeded, was even 
now generally acknowledged. This distinction, which lies at 
the basis of the ancient penitential discipline, was already be- 
ginning to vitiate the whole catholic theology. Some sins 
are more heinous than others, but the comparative turpitude 
of transgressions depends much on the circumstances in which 
they are committed. The wages of every sin is death, 1 and it 
is absurd to attempt to give a stereotyped character to any 
one violation of God's law by classing it, in regard to the ex- 
tent of its guilt, in a particular category. Christianity regards 
sin, in whatever form, as a spiritual poison ; and instead of 
seeking to solve the curious problem — how much of it may 
exist in the soul without the destruction of spiritual life ? — it 
wisely instructs us to guard against it in our very thoughts, 
and to abstain from " all appearance of evil." 2 " When lust/' 
or indwelling depravity of any description, "has conceived, it 
bringeth forth sin ; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth 
death." 3 The admission of the distinction of venial and mor- 
tal sins is most perilous to the best interests of the Christian 
community ; for, whilst it is without foundation in the in- 
spired statute-book, it inevitably leads to the neglect or care- 
less performance of many duties which the Most High has 
solemnly enjoined. 

The Platonic philosophy taught the necessity of a state of 
purification after death; 4 and a modification of this doctrine 
formed part of at least some of the systems of Gnosticism. 6 
It is inculcated by Tertullian, the great champion of Montan- 

1 Rom. vi. 23. 8 1 Thess. v. 22. 3 James i. 15. 

4 See Cudworth's " Intellectual System," with Notes by Mosheim, iii., p. 
297. Edition, London, 1845. 

6 See Hagenbach's " History of Doctrines," i., p. 218. 



PURGATORY AND PENANCE. 403 

ism ; ' and we have seen how, according to Mani, departed 
souls pass, first to the moon, and then to the sun, that they 
may thus undergo a twofold purgation. Here, again, a tenet 
originally promulgated by the heretics, became at length a 
portion of the creed of the Church. The Manichaeans, as well 
as the Gnostics, rejected the doctrine of the atonement, and as 
faith in the perfection of the cleansing virtue of the blood of 
Christ declined, a belief in Purgatory became popular. 2 

The Gnostics, with some exceptions, insisted greatly on the 
mortification of the body ; and the same species of discipline 
was strenuously recommended by the Montanists and the 
Manichaeans. All these heretics believed that the largest 
measure of future happiness was to be realized by those who 
practiced the most rigid asceticism. Mani admitted that an 
individual without any extraordinary amount of abstinence 
could reach the world of Light, for he held out the hope of 
heaven to his Hearers ; but he taught that its highest distinc- 
tions were reserved for the Elect, who scrupulously refrained 
from bodily indulgence. The Church silently adopted the 
same principle ; and the distinction between precepts and 
counsels, which was soon introduced into its theology, rests 
upon this foundation. By precepts are understood those du- 
ties which are obligatory upon all ; by counsels, those acts, 
whether of charity or abstinence, which are expected from 
such only as aim at superior sanctity. 3 The Elect of the 
Manichaeans, as well as many of the Gnostics, 4 declined to en- 
ter into wedlock ; and the Montanists were disposed to confer 
double honor on the single clergy. 5 The Church did not long 
stand out against the fascinations of this popular delusion. 
Her members almost universally caught up the impression 

1 See Kaye's " Tertullian," p. 348. 

2 The doctrine of Purgatory, as now held, was not, however, fully recog- 
nized until the time of Gregory the Great, or the beginning of the seventh 
century. 

3 See Mosheim's " Institutes," by Soames, i. 166. 

4 Marcion declined to baptize those who were married. " Non tinguitur 
apud ilium caro, nisi virgo, nisi vidua, nisi cselebs, nisi divortio baptisma 
mercata." — Tertullian, Adver. Marcionem, lib. i., c. 29. 

6 See Neander's " General History," ii. 253. 



404 CELIBACY. 

that marriage stands in the way of the cultivation of piety ; 
and bishops and presbyters, who lived in celibacy, began to 
be regarded as more holy than their brethren. This feeling 
continued to gain strength ; and from it sprung that vast sys- 
tem of monasticism which spread throughout Christendom, 
with such amazing rapidity, in the fourth century. 1 

It thus appears that asceticism and clerical celibacy have 
been grafted on Christianity by paganism. Hundreds of years 
before the New Testament was written, Buddhism could boast 
of multitudes of monks and eremites. 2 The Gnostics, in the 
early part of the second century, celebrated the praises of a 
single life; and the Elect of the Manichaeans were all celi- 
bates. Meanwhile marriage was permitted to the clergy of 
the catholic Church. Well might the apostle exhort the dis- 
ciples to beware of those ordinances which have " a show of 
wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and neglecting of the 
body" s as the austerities of the cloister are miserable prepara- 
tives for the enjoyments of a world of purity and love. Chris- 
tianity exhibited startling tokens of degeneracy when it at- 
tempted to nourish piety upon the spawn of the heathen su- 
perstitions. The Gospel is designed for social and for active 
beings ; as it hallows all the relations of life, it also teaches us 
how to use all the good gifts of God ; and whilst celibacy and 
protracted fasting may only generate misanthropy and melan- 
choly, faith, walking in the ways of obedience, can purify the 
heart, and induce the peace that passeth all understanding. 

1 In the fifth century, the great Augustine thus absurdly discourses of the 
merits of celibacy : " What is the meaning of the difference of fertility, let 
them ascertain who understand these things better than we do — whether 
the virginal life be in fruit an hundredfold, the widowed sixtyfold, the mar- 
ried thirtyfold — or whether the hundredfold fertility be ascribed to martyr- 
dom, the sixtyfold to continence, the thirtyfold to marriage." — De Sancta 

Vzrginztate, cap. 45. 

2 In the Westminster Review for October, 1856, there is an article on 
" Buddhism," written, indeed, in the anti-evangelical spirit of that periodi- 
cal, but containing withal much curious and important information. See 
also Sir James Emerson Tennent's " Ceylon," and Hardy's " Eastern Mon- 
achism." 

3 Col. ii. 23. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. 

FOR some time after the apostolic age, the doctrine of the 
Church remained unchanged. Those who had been taught 
by the inspired heralds of the Gospel did not readily relin- 
quish any of its distinctive principles. The purity . of the 
evangelical creed was indeed soon deteriorated by the ad- 
mixture of dogmas suggested by bigotry and superstition ; 
but, throughout the whole of the period before us, its ele- 
mentary articles were substantially maintained by almost all 
the Churches of the Empire. 

Though there was still an agreement respecting the car- 
dinal points of Christianity, it is not strange that the early 
writers occasionally expressed themselves in a way which 
would now be considered loose or inaccurate. Errorists, by 
the controversies they awakened, not unfrequently created 
much perplexity and confusion ; but, in general, the truth 
eventually issued from discussion with renovated credit ; for, 
in due time, acute and able advocates came forward to prove 
that the articles assailed rested on an impregnable foundation. 
During these debates it became necessary to distinguish the 
different shades of doctrine by the establishment of a fixed 
terminology. The disputants were obliged to define with 
precision the expressions they employed ; and thus various 
forms of speech ceased to have an equivocal meaning. But, 
in the second or third century, theology had not assumed a 
scientific form ; and the language of orthodoxy was, as yet, 
unsettled. Hence, when treating of doctrinal questions, those 
whose views were substantially correct sometimes gave their 

(405) 



406 "THE APOSTLES' CREED." 

sanction to the use of phrases which were afterward con- 
demned as the symbols of heterodoxy. 1 

About the beginning of the third century all adults who 
were admitted to baptism were required to make a declara- 
tion of their faith by assenting to some such formula as 
that now called " The Apostles' Creed "; 2 and though no 
general council had yet been held, the chief pastors of the 
largest and most influential Churches maintained, by letters, 
an official correspondence, and were in this way well ac- 
quainted with each other's sentiments. A considerable num- 
ber of these epistles, or at least of extracts from them, are 
still extant ; 3 and there is thus abundant proof of the unity 
of the faith of the ecclesiastical rulers. But, in treating of 
this subject, it is necessary to be more specific, and to no- 
tice particularly the leading doctrines commonly received. 

Before entering directly on this review, it is proper to men- 
tion that the Holy Scriptures were held in the highest esti- 
mation. The reading of them aloud formed part of the 
stated service of the congregation, and one or other of the 
passages brought, at the time, under the notice of the audi- 
tory, usually constituted the groundwork of the preacher's 
discourse. Their perusal was recommended to the laity ; * 
the husband and wife talked of them familiarly as they sat by 

1 The most remarkable instance of this is the condemnation of the word 
dfwol'Cfor, as applied to our Lord, by the Synod of Antioch in a.d. 269. It 
is well known that the very same word was adopted in A.D. 325, by the 
Council of Nice as the symbol of orthodoxy ; and yet these two ecclesiasti- 
cal assemblies held the same views. See also, as to the application of the 
word vrroaraaig, Burton's " Ante-Nicene Testimonies," p. 129. 

2 " The inference to be drawn from a comparison of different passages 
scattered through Tertullian's writings is, that the Apostles' Creed in its 
present form was not known to him as a summary of faith ; but that the 
various clauses of which it is composed were generally received as articles 
of faith by orthodox Christians." — Kayes Tertidlian, p. 324. 

3 These may be found in Routh's " Reliquiae." Eusebius has preserved 
many of them. 

4 " Si quis legat Scripturas et erit consummatus discipulus, et 

similis patrifamilias, qui de thesauro suo profert nova et Vetera." — Irenczus, 
iv., c. 26, § i. 



DIFFUSION OF SCRIPTURE KNOWLEDGE. 407 

the domestic hearth ; * and children were accustomed to com- 
mit them to memory. 2 As many of the disciples could not 
read, and as the expense of manuscripts was considerable, 
copies of the sacred books were not in the hands of all ; but 
their frequent rehearsal in the public assemblies made the 
multitude familiar with their contents, and some of the 
brethren possessed an amount of acquaintance with them 
which, even at the present day, would be deemed marvellous. 
Eusebius speaks of several individuals who could repeat, at 
will, any required passage from either the Old or New Testa- 
ment. On a certain occasion the historian happened to be 
present when one of these walking concordances poured forth 
the stores of his prodigious memory. " I was struck with ad- 
miration," says he, " when I first beheld him standing amidst 
a large crowd, and reciting certain portions of Holy Writ. 
As long as I could only hear his voice, I supposed that he 
was reading, as is usual in the congregations ; but, when I 
came close up to him, I discovered that, employing only the 
eyes of his mind, he uttered the divine oracles like some 
prophet." 3 

It was not extraordinary that the early Christians were 
anxious to treasure up Scripture in the memory ; for, in all 
matters of faith and practice, the Written Word was regarded 
as the standard of ultimate appeal. No human authority 
whatever was deemed equal to the award of this Divine arbi- 
ter. " They who are laboring after excellency," says a father 
of this period, " will not stop in their search after truth, until 
they have obtained proof of that which they believe from the 
Scriptures themselves" * Nor was there any dispute as to 
the amount of confidence to be placed in the language of the 
Bible. The doctrine of its plenary inspiration — a doctrine 

1 " Ubi fomenta fidei de scripturarum intetjectione ? " — Tertullian, Ad 
Uxorem, lib. ii., c. 6. 

2 As in the case of Origen. In the " Didascalia" we meet with the follow- 
ing directions : " Teach then your children the word of the Lord 

Teach them to write, and to read the Holy Scriptures." — Ethiopic Didas- 
calia, by Piatt, p. 1 30. 

3 Euseb. viii., c. 13. 4 Clemens Alexandrinus, " Stromata," lib. vii. 



408 PLENARY INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE. 

which many in modern times either openly or virtually deny — 
was received without abatement or hesitation. Even Ori- 
gen, who takes such liberties when interpreting the sacred 
text, admits most fully that it is all of divine dictation. " I 
believe," says he, " that, for those who know how to draw 
virtue from the Scriptures, every letter in the oracles of God 
has its end and its work, even to an iota and particle of a 
letter. And, as among plants, there is not one but has its 
peculiar virtue, and as they only who have a knowledge of 
botanical science can tell how each should be prepared and 
applied to a useful purpose ; so it is that he who is a holy 
and spiritual botanist of the Word of God, by gathering up 
each atom and element, will find the virtue of that Word, 
and acknowledge that there is nothing in all that is written 
that is superfluous." ' 

It has been already stated 2 that little difference of senti- 
ment existed in the early Church respecting the books to be 
included in the canon of the New Testament. All, with the 
exception of the Gnostics and some other heretics, recognized 
the claims of the four Gospels, 3 of the Acts of the Apostles, 
of the Epistles of Paul, of the First Epistle of Peter, and of 
the First Epistle of John. Though, for a time, some Churches 
hesitated to acknowledge the remaining epistles, their doubts 
seem to have been gradually dissipated. 4 At first the genu- 
ineness of the Apocalypse was undisputed ; but, after the rise 
of the Montanists, who were continually quoting it in proof 
of their theory of a millennium, some of their antagonists 
foolishly questioned its authority. At an early period two 
or three tracts 5 written by uninspired men were received as 
Scripture by a number of Churches. They were never, how- 

1 Homil. xxxix. on Jer. xliv. 22. 

2 Period i., sec. ii., chap, i., p. 163. 

3 The fathers traced analogies between the four Gospels and the four 
cardinal points, the living creatures with four faces, and the four rivers of 
Paradise. See Irenasus, lib. iii., c. xi., § 8; and Cyprian, Epist. lxxiii., 
Opera, p. 281. 

4 See Euseb. vi. 25. 

6 Such as the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas. 



SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION. 409 

ever, generally acknowledged ; and at length, by common 
consent, were excluded from the canon. 1 
V The code of heathen morality supplied a ready apology for 
falsehood, 2 and its accommodating principles soon found too 
much encouragement within the pale of the Church. Hence 
the pious frauds which were now perpetrated. Various works 
made their appearance with the name of some apostolic man 
appended to them, 3 their fabricators thus hoping to give cur- 
rency to opinions or practices which might otherwise have en- 
countered much opposition. At the same time many evinced 
a disposition to supplement the silence of the Written Word 
by the aid of traditio n. Jl But though the writers of the period 
sometimes lay undue stress on the evidence of this vague wit- 
ness, they often resort to it merely as an offset against state- 
ments professedly derived from the same source which were 
brought forward by the heretics ; and they invariably admit 
that the authority of Scripture is entitled to override the 
authority of tradition. " The Lord in the Gospel, reproving 
and rebuking, declares," says Cyprian, "ye reject the com- 
mandment of God that ye may keep your own tradition. 4 
Custom should not be an obstacle that the truth prevail not 
and overcome, for a custom without truth is error inveterate.'' 5 
" What obstinacy is that, or what presumption, to prefer 
human tradition to divine ordinances, and not to perceive that 
God is displeased and provoked, as often as human tradition 
relaxes and sets aside the divine command." 6 , Quring. this 
period the uncertainty of any other guide than the inspired 
record v/as repeatedly demonstrated ; for, though Christians 
were removed at so short a distance from apostolic times, the 

See Westcott on the Canon, pp. 452, 453. 

"The opinion that falsehood was allowable, and might even be neces- 
sary to guide the multitude, was," says Neander, " a principle inbred into 
the aristocratic spirit of the old world." — General History, ii. p. 72. 

3 Such as the numerous works ascribed to Clemens Romanus and the 
Ignatian Epistles. 

4 Cyprian, Epist. Ixxiv., p. 294. 

6 Cyprian, Epist. Ixxiv., p. 296. 6 Cyprian, Epist. Ixxiv., p. 294. 



4IO ORIGINAL SIN. 

traditions of onejChurch sometimes diametrically contradicted 
those of another^} 

There is certainly nothing like uniformity in the language 
employed by the Christian writers of this era when treating of 
doctrinal subjects ; and yet their theology was essentially the 
same. All apparently admit the corruption of human nature. 
Justin Martyr speaks of a concupiscence in every man, evil in 
all its tendencies and various in its nature," 2 whilst Tertullian 
mentions original sin under the designation of " the vice of 
our origin." 3 Our first parent, says he, " having been seduced 
into disobedience by Satan, was delivered over to death, and 
transmitted his condemnation to the whole human race, which 
was infected from his seed." '* Though the ancient fathers oc- 
casionally describe free will in terms which apparently ignore 
the existence of indwelling depravity, 6 their language is not to 
be too strictly interpreted, as it only implies a strong protest 
against the heathen doctrine of fate, and a recognition of the 
principle that man is a voluntary agent. Thus it is that Cle- 
mens Alexandrinus, one of the writers who asserts most de- 

1 The conflicting traditions relative to the time of keeping the Paschal 
feast afford a striking illustration of this fact. 

2 See Kaye's "Justin Martyr," p. 75. 

3 " Originis vitium." " Malum igitur animae .... ex originis vitio ante- 
cedit." — De Anima, c. 41. Cyprian calls it "contagio antiqua." " Inno- 
vati SpirituSancto a sordibus contagionis antiqua?." — DeHabitu Vi/ginwn, 
cap. iv. 

4 " Per quern (Satanan) homo a primordio circumventus, ut praeceptum 
Dei excederet, et propterea in mortem datus exinde to turn genus de suo 
semine infectum suae etiam damnationis traducem fecit." — De Testimonio 
Animce, c. iii. 

5 "Nothing can be less systematic or less organized than their notions on 
this subject ; I might say, often even contradictory ; such inconsistency 
partly, perhaps, arising from the point never having been canvassed by men 
with any care, as it eventually was by controversialists of a later day, .... 
and partly from the embarrassment of their position ; for whilst Scripture 
and self-experience compelled them to admit the grievous corruption of our 
nature, they had perpetually to contend against a powerful body of heretics, 
who made such corruption the ground for affirming that a world so evil 
coidd not have been created by a good God, but was the work of a Demiur- 
gus." — Blunt' s Early Fathers, pp. 585, 586. 



WORSHIP OF CHRIST. 411 

cidedly the freedom of the will, admits the necessity of a new 
birth unto righteousness. " The Father," says he, " regener- 
ates by the Spirit unto adoption all who flee to Him." x " Since 
the soul is moved of itself, the grace of God demands from it 
that which it has, namely, a ready temper as its contribution 
to salvation. For the Lord wishes that the good which He con- 
fers on the soul should be its own, since it is not without sen- 
sation, so that it should be impelled like a body." 3 

No fact is more satisfactorily attested than that the early 
disciples rendered divine honors to our Saviour. In the very 
beginning of the second century, a heathen magistrate, who 
deemed it his duty to make minute inquiries respecting them, 
reported to the Roman Emperor that, in their religious as- 
semblies, they sang " hymns to Christ as to a God." 3 They 
were reproached by the Gentiles, as well as by the Jews, for 
worshipping a man who had been crucified. 4 When this ac- 
cusation was brought against them, they at once admitted its 
truth, and undertook to show that the act was perfectly 
capable of vindication. 5 In the days of Justin Martyr there 
were certain professing Christians, probably the Ebionites, 8 
who held the simple humanity of our Lord, but that writer 
represents the great body of the disciples as entertaining very 
different sentiments. " There are some of our race," says he, 
" who confess that He was the Christ, but affirm that He was 
a man born of human parents, with whom I do not agree, 
neither should I, even if very many, who entertain the same 

1 " Pasdagogue," lib. i. 

2 See Kaye's " Clement," p. 432. See also the comments of Neander, 
11 General History," ii. 388. 3 Pliny's Epistle to Trajan. 

4 See various passages in Justin's Dialogue with Trypho, and in Origen 
against Celsus. 

5 Thus Origen says, " We do not pay the highest worship to Him who 
appeared so latety, as to a person who had no previous existence, for we be- 
lieve Him when He says Himself, ' Before Abraham was, I am.' " — Contra 
Celsum, viii., § 12. 

6 The origin of this name has been much controverted. It is probable 
that it was derived from Ebion, the founder of the sect. See Period i., sect, 
ii., chap, iii., p. 183. Among other things the party seem to have inculcated 
voluntary poverty. 



412 CHRIST IS GOD AND MAN. 

opinion as myself, were to say so ; since we are commanded 
by Christ to attend, not to the doctrines of men, but to that 
which was proclaimed by the blessed prophets, and taught by 
Himself." ' 

When Justin here expresses his dissent from those who de- 
scribed our Lord as "a man born of human parents," he 
obviously means that he is not a Humanitarian ; for, in com- 
mon with the early Church, he held the doctrine of the two 
natures in Christ. The fathers who now flourished, when 
touching on the question of the union of humanity and deity 
in the person of the Redeemer, do not, it is true, express 
themselves always with as much precision as writers who ap- 
peared after the Eutychian controversy in the fifth century ; 
but they undoubtedly believed that our Lord was both God 
and man. 2 Even already the subject was pressed on their at- 
tention by various classes of errorists who were laboring with 
much assiduity to disseminate their principles. The Gnostics, 
who affirmed that the body of Jesus was a phantom, shut 
them up to the necessity of showing that He really possessed 
all the attributes of a human being ; whilst, in meeting objec- 
tors from a different quarter, they were compelled to demon- 
strate that He was also the Jehovah of the Old Testament. 
The Ebionites were not the only sectaries who taught that 
Jesus was a mere man. The same doctrine was inculcated by 
Theodotus, a native of Byzantium, who settled at Rome about 
the end of the second century. This individual, though by trade 
a tanner, possessed no small amount of learning, and created 
some disturbance in the Church of the Western capital by the 
novelty and boldness of his speculations. In the end he was 

1 This passage, which is somewhat obscure as it stands in the original, 
has been misinterpreted by Unitarian writers from generation to generation. 
The rendering which they commonly give of it makes it quite inconsistent 
with the context, and with the statements of Justin elsewhere. See Kaye's 
"Justin," p. 51. 

2 Thus Tertullian says, " The only man without sin is Christ, because 
Christ is also God." — De Anima, cap. xli. Justin Martyr complains that 
the Jews had expunged from the Septuagint many passages " wherein it 
might be clearly shown that He who was crucified was both God and man." 
— Dialogue with Try p ho, § 71. 



PAUL OF SAMOSATA. 413 

excommunicated by Victor, the Roman bishop. Some time 
afterward his sentiments were adopted by Artemon, whose 
disciples, named Artemonites, elected a bishop of their own, 1 
and existed for some time at Rome as a distinct community. 

But by far the most distinguished of these ancient impugn- 
ers of the proper deity of the Messiah was the celebrated Paul 
of Samosata, who flourished shortly after the middle of the 
third century. Paul occupied the bishopric of Antioch, the 
second see in Christendom ; and was undoubtedly a man of 
superior talent. According to his views, the Divine Logos is 
not a distinct Person, but the Reason of God ; and Jesus was 
the greatest of the sons of men, simply because the Logos 
dwelt in Him after a higher manner, or more abundantly, than 
in any other of the posterity of Adam. 2 But though this prel- 
ate had great wealth, influence, and eloquence, his heterodoxy 
soon raised a storm of opposition which he could not with- 
stand. The Christians of Antioch in the third century refused 
to tolerate the ministrations of a preacher who insinuated that 
the Word is not truly God. He possessed consummate ad- 
dress, and when first arraigned, his plausible equivocations and 
sophistries imposed upon his judges ; but, at a subsequent 
council, held about A.D. 269 in the metropolis of Syria, he was 
so closely pressed by Malchion, one of his own presbyters, 
that he was obliged reluctantly to acknowledge his real senti- 
ments. He was, in consequence, deposed from his office by a 
unanimous vote of the Synod. A circular letter 3 announcing 
the decision was transmitted to the leading pastors of the 
Church all over the Empire, and this ecclesiastical deliverance 
received their universal sanction. 4 

The theological term translated Trinity & was in use as early 

1 Euseb. v. 28. 

2 Euseb. v. 27, 30. Epjphanius, " Haer." 65, 1. 

3 The superscription of this epistle is a sufficient refutation of much of the 
reasoning of Mr. Shepherd against the genuineness of the Cyprianic corre- 
spondence, as here the names of a crowd of bishops are given without any 
mention whatever of their sees. See also Euseb. x. 5, p. 391, Edit. Vales, 
1672. 

* Euseb. vii. 30. 6 rptag or trinilas. 



4H THE TRINITY. 

as the second century ; for, about A.D. 180, it is employed by 
Theophilus, who is supposed to have been one of the prede- 
cessors of Paul of Samosata in the Church of Antioch. 1 Speak- 
ing of the formation of the heavenly bodies on the fourth day 
of creation, as described in the first chapter of Genesis, this 
writer observes : " The three days which preceded the lumina- 
ries are types of the Trinity? of God, and His Word, and His 
Wisdom." Here, as elsewhere in the works of the fathers of 
the early Church, the third person of the Godhead is named 
under the designation of Wisdom. 9 Though this is the first 
mention of the word Trinity to be found in any ecclesiastical 
document now extant, it is plain that the doctrine is of far 
higher antiquity. Justin Martyr repeatedly refers to it, and 
Athenagoras, who flourished in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, 
treats of it with much clearness. " We speak," says he, " of 
the Father as God, and the Son as God, and the Holy Ghost, 
showing at the same time their power in unity, and their dis- 
tinction in order." 4 " We who look upon this present life as 
worth little or nothing, and are conducted through it by the 
sole principle of knowing God and the Word proceeding from 
Him, of knowing what is the unity of the Son with the Father, 
what the Father communicates to the Son, what is the Spirit, 
what is the union of this number of Persons, the Spirit, the Son, 
and the Father, and in what way they who are united are 
divided — shall we not have credit given us for being worship- 
pers of God ?" 5 

The attempts made in the latter half of the second century 
to pervert the doctrine of Scripture relative to the Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit, probably led to the appearance of the 

1 This is, however, by no means clear, as there is nothing in his works to 
indicate that he held such a position. 

2 "Ad Autolycum," ii., C. 15. tvttoi e'iclv rfjg Tptddog. 

3 Thus Irenseus says : " There is ever present with Him (the Father) the 
Word and Wisdom, the Son and Spirit" — Contra Hcereses, iv. 20, § 1. It 
may here be proper to add that the early Christians worshipped the third 
person of the Trinity. Thus, Hippolytus says : " Through Him (the Incar- 
nate Word) we form a conception of the Father ; we believe in the Son ; 
we worship the Holy Ghost" — Contra Noetum, c. 12. 

* " Legat. pro Christianis," c. 10. 5 " Legat. pro Christianis," c. 12. 



MONARCHIANISM. 415 

word Trinity in the ecclesiastical nomenclature ; for, when 
controversy commenced, some such symbol was required to 
prevent the necessity of constant and tedious circumlocution. 
One of the most noted of the parties, dissatisfied with the 
ordinary mode of speaking respecting the Three Divine Per- 
sons, and desirous of changing the current creed, was Praxeas, 
a native of Asia Minor. After having acquired much credit 
by his fortitude and courage in a time of persecution, he had 
also signalized himself by his zeal against the Montanists. 
He now taught that the Son and Holy Ghost are not distinct 
Persons, but simply modes or energies of the Father ; and as 
those who adopted his sentiments imagined that they thus 
held mere strictly than others the doctrine of the existence of 
a single Ruler of the universe, they styled themselves Monarch- 
ians. 1 According to their views the first and second Persons 
of the Godhead are identical ; and, as it apparently followed 
from this theory, that the Father suffered on the cross, they 
received the name of Patripassians? Praxeas travelled from 
Asia Minor to Rome, and afterward passed over into Africa, 
where he was strenuously opposed by the famous Tertullian. 
Another individual, named Noetus, attracted some notice 
about the close of the second century by the peculiarity of 
his speculations in reference to the Godhead. " Noetus," says 
a contemporary, " calls the same both Son and Father, for he 
speaks thus : ' When the Father had not been born, He was 
rightly called Father, but when it pleased Him to undergo 
birth, then by birth He became the Son of Himself, and not 
of another.' Thus he professes to .establish the principle of 
Monarchianism." 3 But, perhaps, the attempts of Sabellius to 
modify the established doctrine made the deepest impression. 
This man, who was an ecclesiastic connected with Ptolemais 
in Africa, 4 maintained that there is no foundation for the or- 
dinary distinction of the Persons of the Trinity, and that the 

1 " Monarchiam, inquiunt, tenemus." — Tertullian, Adv. Praxean, c. 3. 

2 "Athanas. de Synodis," c. 7. 

3 Hippolytus, " Philosophumena," book ix. 

4 He flourished about A.D. 220, and was contemporary with Hippolytus. 
See Bunsen, i. 131. 



416 THE TRINITY OF PLATO. 

terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, merely indicate different 
manifestations of the Supreme Being, or different phases under 
which the one God reveals Himself. From him the doctrine 
of those who confound the Persons of the Godhead still bears 
the name of Sabellianism. 

It has been sometimes said that the Church borrowed its 
idea of a Trinity from Plato, but this assertion rests upon no 
historical basis. Learned men have found it exceedingly diffi- 
cult to give anything like an intelligible account of the Trinity 
of the Athenian philosopher, 1 and it had only a metaphysical 
existence. It certainly had nothing more than a fanciful and 
verbal resemblance to the Trinity of Christianity. Had the 
doctrine of the Church been derived from the writings of the 
Grecian sage, it would not have been inculcated with so much 
zeal and unanimity by the early fathers. Some of them were 
bitterly opposed to Platonism, and yet, though none denounced 
it more vehemently than Tertullian, 2 we can not point to any 
one of them who speaks of the Three Divine Persons more 
clearly or copiously. The heretic thinks, says he, " that we 
can not believe in one God in any other way than if we say 
that the very same Person is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 
.... These persons assume the number and arrangement of 
the Trinity to be a division of the Unity ; whereas the Unity, 
which derives a Trinity from itself, is not destroyed by it, but 
has its different offices performed. They, therefore, boast 
that two and three Gods are preached by us, but that they 
themselves are worshippers of one God ; as if the Unity, when 
improperly contracted, did not create heresy, and a Trinity, 
when properly considered, did not constitute truth." 3 

Every one at all acquainted with the ecclesiastical literature 
of this period must acknowledge that the disciples firmly 

1 Hermias speaks of the Trinity of Plato as " God, and matter, and ex- 
ample."— Sec. 5. 

2 " Doleo bona fide Platonem omnium haereticorum condimentarium fac- 
tum Cum igitur hujusmodi argumento ilia insinuentur a Platone 

quae haeretici mutuantur, satis haereticos repercutiam, si argumentum Pla- 
tonis elidam." — De Amma, c. 23. 

3 "Adversus Praxeam," c. 2, 3. 



THE ATONEMENT. 417 

maintained the doctrine of the Atonement. The Gnostics 
and the Manichaeans discarded this article from their systems, 
as it was entirely foreign to the spirit of their philosophy ; 
but, though the Church teachers enter into scarcely any ex- 
planation of it, by attempting to show how the violated law 
required a propitiation, they proclaim it as a glorious truth 
which should inspire all the children of God with joy and 
confidence. Clemens Alexandrinus gives utterance only to 
the common faith when he declares, " Christians are redeemed 
from corruption by the blood of the Lord." " The Word 
poured forth His blood for us to save human nature." " The 
Lord gave Himself a victim for us." ' The early writers also 
mention faith as the means by which we are to appropriate 
the benefits of the Redeemer's sacrifice. Thus, Justin Mar- 
tyr represents Christ as " purifying by His blood those who 
believe on Him." 2 Clemens Alexandrinus, in like manner, 
speaks of " the one mode of salvation by faith in God/' 3 and 
says that " we have believed in God through the voice of the 
Word."* In the " Letter to Diognetus " the doctrine of jus- 
tification by faith through the imputed righteousness of the 
Saviour is beautifully exhibited. " For what else," says the 
writer, " could cover our sins but His righteousness ? In 
whom was it possible that we, the lawless and the unholy, 
could be justified, save by the Son of God alone ? Oh sweet 
exchange ! oh unsearchable wisdom ! oh unexpected benefits ! 
that the sin of many should be hidden by One righteous, and 
the righteousness of One justify many sinners." 5 

The Church of the second and third centuries was not agi- 
tated by any controversies relative to grace and predestination. 
Few were disposed to indulge in speculations on these subjects ; 
and some of the ecclesiastical writers, in the heat of controversial 
discussion, are occasionally tempted to make use of language 
which it is difficult to reconcile with the declarations of the 
New Testament. All of them, however, either explicitly or 
virtually, admit the necessity of grace ; and some distinctly 

1 " Psedagogue," book i., c. 5, 6, 11. 2 Opera, p. 74. 

3 " Pedagogue," book i., c. 1. 4 " Stromata," book ii. 

6 Justin, Opera, p. 500. 
27 



41 8 DIVINE GRACE. 

enunciate the doctrine of election. " We stand in especial 
need of divine grace, and right instruction, and pure affection," 
says Clemens Alexandrinus, " and we require that the Father 
should draw us toward Himself!' " God, who knows the 
future as if it was already present, knoius the elect according to 
His purpose even before the creation." ' " Your power to do," 
says Cyprian, " will be according to the increase of spiritual 

grace What measure we bring thither of faith to hold, 

so much do we drink in of grace to inundate. Hereby is 
strength given." 2 It is worthy of note that those writers 
who speak most decidedly of the freedom of the will, also 
most distinctly proclaim their faith in the perfection of the 
Divine Sovereignty. Thus, Justin Martyr urges, as a decisive 
proof of the impious character of their theology, that the 
heathen philosophers repudiated the doctrine of a particular 
providence ; 3 and all the ancient fathers are ever ready to 
recognize the superintending guardianship of God in the com- 
mon affairs of life. 

But though the creed of the Church was still to some extent 
substantially sound, it was beginning to suffer much from 
adulteration. One hundred years after the death of the 
Apostle John, spiritual darkness was fast settling down upon 
the Christian community ; and the fathers, who flourished 
toward the commencement of the third century, frequently 
employ language for which they would have been sternly re- 
buked, had they lived in the days of the apostles and evangel- 
ists. Thus, we find them speaking of " sins cleansed by re- 
pentance," 4 and of repentance as " the price at which the 
Lord has determined to grant forgiveness." 5 We read of 

1 See Kaye's " Clement," pp. 431, 435. 

2 Epist. i. ad Donatum, Opera, p. 3. 

3 The philosophers, according to Justin, maintained a general, but denied 
a, particular providence. Dial, with Trypho, Opera, p. 218. Some who 
call themselves Christians adopt this portion of the pagan theology. 

4 " Non facti solum, verum et voluntatis delicta vitanda, et pcenitentia 
purganda esse." — Tertullzan, De Poenitentia, c. iii. 

5 " Hoc enim pretio Dominus veniam addicera instituit." — Tert. De Pee- 
nit., c. vi. 



PATRISTIC ERRORS. 419 

" sins clea?ised by alms and faith," * and of the martyr, by his 
sufferings, " washing away his own iniquities." 3 We are told 
that by baptism " we are cleansed from all our sins," and " re- 
gain that Spirit of God which Adam received at his creation 
and lost by his transgression." 3 " The pertinacious wicked- 
ness of the Devil," says Cyprian, "has power up to the saving 
water, but in baptism he loses all the poison of his wicked- 
ness." 4 The same writer insists on the necessity of penance, a 
species of discipline unknown to the Apostolic Church, and 
denounces, with terrible severity, those who discouraged its 
performance. " By the deceitfulness of their lies," says he, 
they interfere, " that satisfaction be not given to God in His 

anger All pains are taken that sins be not expiated by 

due satisfactions and lamentations, that wounds be not washed 
clean by tears." 5 It may be said that some of these expres- 
sions are rhetorical, and that those by whom they were em- 
ployed did not mean to deny the all-sufficiency of the Great 
Sacrifice ; but had these fathers clearly apprehended the doc- 
trine of justification by faith in Christ, they would have re- 
coiled from the use of language so exceedingly objectionable. 
There are many who imagine that, had they lived in the 
days of Tertullian or of Origen, they must have enjoyed 
spiritual advantages far higher than any to which they have 
now access. But a more minute acquaintance with the eccle- 
siastical history of the third century should convince them 
that they have no reason to complain of their present privi- 
leges. The amount of material light which surrounds us does 
not depend on our proximity to the sun. When our planet 
is most remote from its great luminary, we may bask in the 
splendor of his effulgence ; and, when it approaches nearer, 
we may be involved in thick darkness. So it is with the 

1 Clemens Alexandrinus, " Strom." book vi. 

2 " Sufficiat martyri propria delicta purgasse." — Tertullian, De Pudicitia, 
c. 22. 

3 See Kaye's " Tertullian," p. 431. Origen speaks of the baptism of blood 
(martyrdom) rendering us purer than the baptism of water. Opera, ii., 

p. 473- 

4 Epist. lxxvi., Opera, p. 322. " Epist. lv., p. 181. 



420 THE LIGHT OF THE BIBLE. 

Church. The amount of our religious knowledge does not 
depend on our proximity to the days of primitive Christianity. 
The Bible is the sun of the spiritual firmament ; and this 
divine illuminator, like the glorious orb of day, pours forth its 
light with equal brilliancy from generation to generation. 
The Church may retire into " chambers of imagery " erected 
by her own folly ; and there, with the light shut out from her, 
may sink into a slumber disturbed only, now and then, by 
some dream of superstition ; or, with the light still shining 
on her, her eye may be dim or disordered , and she may 
stumble at noonday. But the light is as pure as in the days 
of the apostles ; and, if we have eyes to profit by it, we may 
11 understand more than the ancients." The art of printing 
has supplied us with facilities for the study of the Scriptures 
which were denied to the fathers of the second century ; and 
the ecclesiastical documents, relative to that age, which have 
been transmitted to us from antiquity, contain, perhaps, the 
greater part of even the traditionary information which was 
preserved in the Church. If we are only " taught of God," 
we are in as good a position for acquiring a correct acquaint- 
ance with the way of salvation as was Polycarp or Justin 
Martyr. What an encouragement for every one to pray, 
" Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things 
out of thy law. I am a stranger in the earth : hide not thy 
commandments from me ! " ' 

1 Ps. cxix. 1 8, 19. 



SECTION III. 

THE WORSHIP AND CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE WORSHIP OF THE CHURCH. 

THE religion of the primitive Christians seemed exceedingly 
strange to their pagan contemporaries. The heathen worship 
was little better than a solemn show. Its victims adorned with 
garlands, its incense and music and lustral water, its priests 
arrayed in white robes, and its marble temples with gilded 
roofs, were fitted, rather to fascinate the senses, than to im- 
prove the heart or expand the intellect. Even the Jewish rit- 
ual, in the days of its glory, had a powerful effect on the im- 
agination. As the Israelites assembled from all quarters at 
their great festivals — as they poured in thousands and tens of 
thousands into the courts of their ancient sanctuary — as they 
surveyed the various parts of a structure which was one of the 
wonders of the world — as they beheld the priests in their holy 
garments — as they listened to the mingled strains of vocal and 
instrumental harmony — and as they gazed on the high-priest 
himself, whose forehead glittered with gold whilst his breast- 
plate sparkled with precious stones, they felt that they wit- 
nessed a scene of extraordinary splendor. But, when Chris- 
tianity made its appearance in the world, it presented none of 
these attractions. Its adherents were stigmatized as atheists, 3 
because they had no altars, no temples, and no sacrifices. They 
held their meetings in private dwellings ; their ministers wore 
no peculiar dress ; and, by all who sought merely the gratifica- 

1 See the Apology of Athenagoras, sees. 3, 10; and Minucius Felix, c. 10. 

(421) 



422 RELIGIOUS EDIFICES. 

tion of the eye or of the ear, the simple service in which they 
engaged was considered very bald and uninteresting. But they 
rejoiced exceedingly in its spiritual character, as they felt that 
they thus drew near to God, and held sweet and refreshing 
communion with their Father in heaven. 

During a considerable part of the second century, the Chris- 
tians had comparatively few buildings set apart for public wor- 
ship. At a time when they congregated to celebrate the rites 
of their religion at night or before break of day, they were not 
anxious to obtrude their conventicles on the notice of their 
persecutors. But as they increased in numbers, and as the 
State became somewhat more indulgent, they gradually ac- 
quired confidence ; and, in the beginning of the third century, 
the form of their ecclesiastical structures was already familiar 
to the eyes of the heathen. 1 Shortly after that period, their 
meeting-houses in Rome were well known ; and, in the reign of 
Alexander Severus, they ventured to dispute with one of the 
city trades the possession of a piece of ground on which they 
were desirous to erect a place of worship. 2 When the case 
came for adjudication before the Imperial tribunal, the sover- 
eign decided in their favor, and thus virtually placed them 
under the shield of his protection. When the Emperor Gal- 
lienus, in A.D. 260, issued an edict of toleration, church archi- 
tecture advanced apace, and many of the old buildings, which 
were falling into decay, were superseded by edifices at once 
more capacious and more tasteful. The Christians at this time 
began to emulate the magnificence of the heathen temples, and 
even to ape their arrangements. Thus it is that some of our 
churches at the present day are nearly fac-similes of the an- 
cient religious edifices of paganism. 3 

In addition to the administration of baptism and the Lord's 
Supper, the worship of the early Church consisted of singing, 
prayer, reading the Scriptures, and preaching. In the earliest 
notice of the Christians of the second century which occurs in 

1 " Nostrae columnar etiam domus simplex, in editis semper et apertis, et 
ad lucem." — Tertullian, Advers. Valent., c. 3. 

2 Life of Alexander Severus, by Lampridius, c. 49. 

3 See Kennett's " Antiquities of Rome," p. 41. 



CHRISTIAN PSALMODY. 423 

any pagan writer, their psalmody, with which they commenced 
their religious services, 1 is particularly mentioned ; for, in his 
celebrated letter to the Emperor Trajan, Pliny states that they 
met together, before the rising of the sun, to "sing hymns to 
Christ as to a God." It is probable that some of the " hymns " 
here spoken of were the Psalms of the Old Testament. Many 
of these inspired effusions celebrate the glories of Immanuel ; 
and as, for obvious reasons, the Messianic Psalms would be 
used more frequently than any others, it is not strange that 
the disciples are represented as assembling to sing praise to 
Christ. But the Church at this time was not confined to the 
ancient Psalter. Hymns of human composition were occasion- 
ally employed ; 2 and one of these, to be found in the writings 
of Clement of Alexandria, 3 was, perhaps, sung in the early part 
of the third century by the Christians of the Egyptian capital. 
Influential bishops sometimes introduced them by their own 
authority, but the practice awakened suspicion, and was con- 
sidered irregular. Hence Paul of Samosata, in the Council of 
Antioch, held A.D. 269, was blamed for discontinuing the 
Psalms formerly used, and for establishing a new and very ex- 
ceptionable hymnology. 4 

In the early Church the whole congregation joined in the 
singing, 5 but instrumental music did not accompany the praise. 
In the secret assemblies of the faithful its employment would 
have been inexpedient and unseasonable, as it would only have 
increased unnecessarily the perils of a proscribed community. 

1 Bingham has proved, by a variety of testimonies, that such was the order 
of the ancient service. See his " Origines," iv. 383, 406, 417. The early 
Christians thus literally obeyed the commandment, " Come before his pres- 
ence with singing"; "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his 
courts with praise." — (Ps. c. 2, 4). 

2 See 1 Cor. xiv. 26. See also Euseb. v. 28. 

3 At the end of his " Paedagogue." This hymn to the Saviour was com- 
posed by Clement himself. The 59th Canon of the Council of Laodicea for- 
bids the use of "private psalms " in public worship. By " private psalms " 
the ancient interpreters understand psalms composed by private individuals 
and not adopted by the church. The Council of Laodicea was held about 
A.D. 360. 

4 Euseb. vii. 30. 6 See Bingham i., p. 383. Edit. London, 1840. 



424 NO READING OF PRAYERS. 

After ages of disuse, it became associated, in the minds of the 
disciples, with the superannuated ritual of the Jews, or the noisy 
orgies of the heathen ; so that on the advent of more prosper- 
ous times, when it might have been practiced without danger, 
the members of the Church generally felt little inclination to 
encourage it, knowing that it might give off en ce as a deviation 
from their long-established form of service. Early in the third 
century Clemens Alexandrinus admits 1 that the music of the 
harp or lyre might be used without blame in the private de- 
votional exercises of the Christians ; but he looked with dis- 
favor on its introduction into the congregational worship. 

The account of the worship of the Church, given by a 
Christian writer who flourished about the middle of the second 
century, is exceedingly instructive. " On the day which is 
called Sunday," says Justin Martyr, "there is a meeting to- 
gether in one place of all who dwell either in towns or in the 
country ; and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of 
the prophets are read, as long as the time permits. When the 
reading ceases, the president delivers a discourse, in which he 
makes an application and exhorts to the imitation of these 
good things. We then rise all together and pray. Then .... 
when we cease from prayer, bread is brought, and wine and 
water; and the president, in like manner, offers up prayers and 
thanksgivings according to his ability ; 2 and the people ex- 
press their assent by saying Amen." 8 It is abundantly clear 
from this statement that the presiding minister was not re- 
stricted to any set form of supplication. As he prayed "accord- 
ing to his ability," his petitions could neither have been dic- 
tated by others nor taken from a liturgy. Such a practice as 
the reading of prayers was, indeed, totally unknown in the 
Church during the first three centuries. Hence Tertullian rep- 
resents the Christians of his generation as praying " looking 
up with hands spread open, .... and without a prompter, be- 

1 "Paedag." ii. 4. 

2 bar] dvvafiiq. See Origen, " Contra Celsum," iii. 1 and 57 ; Opera, i. 447, 
485. 

3 " Apol." ii., p. 98. 



ATTITUDES IN PRAYER. 425 

cause from the heart." 1 In his "Treatise on Prayer" Origen 
recommends the worshipper to address God with stretched-out 
hands and uplifted eyes. 2 The erect body with the arms ex- 
tended was supposed to represent the cross, 3 and therefore this 
attitude was deemed peculiarly appropriate for devotion. 4 On 
the Lord's day the congregation always stood when addressing 
God. B At this period forms of prayer were used in the heathen 
worship, 6 and in some cases the pagans adhered with singular 
tenacity to their ancient liturgies ; 7 but the Church did not 

1 " Suspicientes Christiani manibus expansis denique sine monitore, quia 
de pectore oramus." — Apol. c. 30. The omission of a single word, when 
repeating the heathen liturgy, was considered a great misfortune. Cheval- 
lier says, speaking of this expression sine monitore, " There is probably an 
allusion to the persons who were appointed, at the sacrifices of the Romans, 
to prompt the magistrates, lest they should incidentally omit a single word 
in the appropriate formulas, which would have vitiated the whole proceed- 
ings." — Translation of the Epistles of Clement, etc., p. 411, note. Among 
the heathen, the practice of repeating after the minister was connected with 
the use of a liturgy. " After sacrificing, the augur offered a prayer for the 
desired signs to appear, repeating after an inferior minister a set form!' — 
Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiqtiities, Art. Auspicium. 

2 Opera' i., 267. 3 See Minucius Felix. 
4 Tertullian, "De Oratione," c. 14. 

6 See Bingham, iv. 324. In prayer the Christians soon began to turn the 
face to the east. See Tertullian, " Apol." c. 16. This custom was borrowed 
from the Eastern nations who worshipped the sun. See Kaye's " Tertul- 
lian," p. 408. 

6 Thus Prideaux mentions how the Persian priests, long before the com- 
mencement of our era, approached the sacred fire " to read the daily of- 
fices of their Liturgy before it." — Connections, part i., book iv., vol. i., p. 218. 
This liturgy was composed by Zoroaster nearly five hundred years before 
Christ's birth. See also Rawlinson's " Herodotus, " ii. 85, where the sa- 
cred scribe is said to " read from a papyrus certain prayers in presence of 
the assembled pastophori, or members of the Sacred College. " 

7 See Clarkson on " Liturgies," and Hartung, " Religion der Romer." It 
is remarkable that the old pagan Roman liturgy, in consequence of the 
change in the language from the time of its original establishment, began 
at length to be almost unintelligible to the people. It thus resembles the 
present Romish Liturgy. The pagans believed that their prayers were 
more successful when offered up in a barbarous and unknown language. 
See Potter's " Antiquities of Greece," i. 288. Edit. Edinburgh, 1818. The 
Lacedaemonians had a form of prayer from which they never varied either 
in public or private. . Potter, i. 281. 



426 READING OF SCRIPTURE. 

yet require the aid of such auxiliaries. Though in the account 
of the losses sustained during the Diocletian persecution, we 
read frequently of the seizure of the Scriptures, and of the 
ecclesiastical utensils, we never meet with any allusion to the 
spoliation of prayer-books. 1 There is, in fact, no evidence 
whatever that such helps to devotion were yet in existence. 2 

The worship was conducted in a dialect understood by the 
congregation ; and though the officiating minister was at per- 
fect liberty to select his phraseology, he did not think it 
necessary to aim at great variety in the mere language of his 
devotional exercises. So long as a petition was deemed suit- 
able, it continued to be repeated in nearly the same words, 
whilst providential interpositions, impending persecutions, and 
the personal condition of the flock were continually suggesting 
fresh topics for thanksgiving, supplication, and confession. 
The beautiful and comprehensive prayer taught by our Lord 
to His disciples was never considered out of place ; and, as 
early as the third century, it was, at least in some districts, 
used once at every meeting of the faithful. 3 The apostle had 
taught the brethren that intercessions should be made " for 
kings and for all that are in authority," * and the primitive 
disciples did not neglect to commend their earthly rulers to 
the care of the Sovereign of the universe. 6 But still it is clear 
that even such petitions did not run in the channel of any pre- 
scribed formulary. 

From the very days of the apostles the reading of the Script- 
ures constituted an important part of public worship. This 
portion of the service was at first, perhaps, conducted by one 
of the elders, but, in some places, toward the close of the 

1 " In the persecutions under Diocletian and his associates, though a 
strict inquiry was made after the books of Scripture, and other things be- 
longing to the Church, which were often delivered up by the Traditores 
to be burnt, yet we never read of any ritual books, or books of divine serv- 
ice, delivered up among them." — Bingham, iv. 187. 

2 In modern times, when there is any great revival of religion, forms of 
prayer fall into comparative desuetude even among those by whom they 
were formerly used. 

8 See Tertullian, " De Oratione," c. 9 ; and Origen, " De Oratione." 
4 1 Tim. ii. 2. 6 Tertullian, " Apol." c. 39. 



MODE OF PREACHING. 427 

second century, it was committed to a new official, called the 
Reader. 1 The presiding minister was permitted originally to 
choose whatever passages he considered most fitting for the 
occasion, as well as to determine the amount of time to be oc- 
cupied in the exercise ; but, at length, an order of lessons was 
prepared, and then the Reader was expected to confine him- 
self to the Scriptures pointed out in his calendar. 2 This ar- 
rangement, designed to secure a more uniform attention to 
the several parts of the inspired canon, came only gradually 
into general operation ; and it frequently happened that the 
order of lessons for one church was very different from that 
used in another. 3 

Whilst the constant reading, in the vernacular tongue, of 
considerable portions of Scripture at public worship, promoted 
the religious instruction of the people, the mode of preach- 
ing which prevailed contributed to make them still more in- 
timately acquainted with the sacred records. The custom of 
selecting a text as the basis of a discourse had not yet been 
introduced ; but when the reading closed, the minister pro- 
ceeded to expatiate on that section of the Word just brought 
under the notice of the congregation, and pointed out, as well 
the doctrines it recognized, as the practical lessons it incul- 
cated. The entire presbytery was usually present in the con- 
gregation every Lord's day, and when one or other of the 
elders had made a few comments 4 the president added some 
remarks of an expository and hortatory character; but, fre- 
quently, he received no assistance in this part of the service. 
The method of reading and elucidating the Scripture now 
pursued, was eminently salutary ; for, whilst it stored the 
memory with a large share of biblical knowledge, the whole 
Word of God, in the way of earnest appeal, was brought into 
close contact with the heart and conscience of each individual. 

1 See Tertullian, " De Prsescrip." c. 41. 

2 See Guerike's " Manual of the Antiquities of the Church," by Morrison, 
p. 214. 

3 Guerike's "Manual," p. 213. 

4 There is reference to this in the " Apostolic Constitutions," lib. ii., c. 57, 
Cotelerius, i. 266. 



428 MINISTERIAL COSTUME. 

So long as pristine piety flourished, the people listened with 
devout attention to the observations of the preacher; but, as a 
more secular spirit prevailed, he began to be treated rather as 
an orator, than a herald from the King of kings. Before the 
end of the third century, the house of prayer occasionally re- 
sounded with the plaudits of the theatre. Such exhibitions 
were, indeed, condemned at the time by the ecclesiastical au- 
thorities, but the very fact that in the principal church of one 
of the chief cities of the Empire, the bishop, as he proceeded 
with his sermon, was greeted with stamping of feet, clapping 
of hands, and waving of handkerchiefs, 1 supplied melancholy 
evidence of the progress of spiritual degeneracy. In the days 
of the Apostle Paul such demonstrations would have been 
universally denounced as unseemly and unseasonable. 

During the first three centuries there was nothing in the 
ordinary costume of a Christian minister to distinguish him 
from any of his fellow-citizens; 2 but when the pastor offici- 
ated in the congregation, he began, at an early date, to wear 
some peculiar piece of apparel. In an old document, purport- 
ing to have been written shortly after the middle of the second 
century, he is described, at the period of his advancement to 
the episcopal chair, as " clothed with the dress of the bish- 
ops." 3 As the third century advanced, there was a growing 
disposition to increase the pomp of public worship ; in some 
places vessels of silver or of gold were used at the dispensation 
of the Lord's Supper ; 4 and, about this time, some few decora- 
tions were assumed by those who took part in its administra- 
tion. 5 But still the habit used by ecclesiastics at divine service 
was distinguished by its comparative simplicity, and differed 
very little from the dress commonly worn by the mass of the 
population. 

What a change passed over the Church from the period be- 
fore us to the dawn of the Reformation ! Now, the making 

1 Euseb. vii. 30. 2 See Bingham, ii 212. 

3 Letter from Pius of Rome to Justus of Vienne. 

4 Bingham, ii. 451. 

6 They were certainly known soon afterward. See the introduction to 
the " Address to Paulinus of Tyre," Euseb. x. 4. 



THE CHURCH MAY MOVE BACKWARDS. 429 

of images was forbidden, and no picture was permitted even 
on the walls of the sacred edifice : * then a church frequently 
suggested the idea of a studio, or a picture gallery. Now, 
the whole congregation joined heartily-in the psalmody : then, 
the mute crowd listened to the music of the organ accompa- 
nied by the shrill voices of a chorus of thoughtless boys. Now, 
prayers, in the vernacular tongue and suited to the occasion, 
were offered with simplicity and earnestness : then, petitions, 
long since antiquated, were muttered in a dead language. 
Now, the Word was read and expounded in a way intelligible 
to all : then, a few Latin extracts from it were mumbled over 
hastily ; and, if a sermon followed, it was, perha'ps, a eulogy 
on some wretched fanatic, or an attack on some true evan- 
gelist. There are writers who believe that the Church was 
meanwhile going on in a career of hopeful development ; but 
facts too clearly testify that she was moving backwards in a 
path of cheerless declension. Now, the Church " holding 
forth the Word of life " was commending herself to philoso- 
phers and statesmen : then, she had sunk into premature 
dotage, and her very highest functionaries were lisping the 
language of infidelity. 

1 See Period ii., sec. i., chap iii., p. 289. 



CHAPTER II. 

BAPTISM. 

When the venerable Polycarp was on the eve of martyr- 
dom, he is 'reported to have said that he had served Christ 
" eighty and six years." ' By the ancient Church these words 
were regarded as tantamount to a declaration of the length of 
his life, and as implying that he had been a disciple of the 
Saviour from his infancy. 2 The account of his martyrdom 
indicates that he was still in the enjoyment of a green old age, 3 
and as very few overpass the term of fourscore years and six, 
we are certainly not at liberty to infer, without any evidence, 
and in the face of probabilities, that he had now attained a 
greater longevity. A contemporary father, who wrote about 
the middle of the second century, informs us that there were 
then many persons of both sexes, some sixty, and some sev- 
enty years of age, who had been " disciples of Christ from 
childhood," 4 and the pastor of Smyrna is apparently included 
in the description. If eighty-six at the time of his death, he 

1 See the " Epistle of the Church of Smyrna," giving an account of his 
martyrdom, § 9. 

2 The Latin version of his words, as given by Jacobson, is, " Octogesimum 
jam et sextum annum cztatis ingredior." — Pat. Apost., ii. 565. See also the 
" Chronicum Alexandrinum " as quoted by Cotelerius, ii. 194; and Gregory 
of Tours, " Hist." i. 28. 

3 He is represented as standing, when offering up a prayer of two hours' 
length (§ 7), and as running with great speed (§ 8). Such strength at such 
an age was extraordinary. The Apostle John is said to have lived to the 
age of one hundred ; but, toward the close of his life, he had lost his wonted 
energy. 

4 " Apol." ii. Opera, p. 62. See Dr. Wilson's observations on this passage 
in his " Infant Baptism," pp. 447, 448. 

(43o) 



INFANT BAPTISM. 43 1 

may have been about threescore and ten when Justin Martyr 
made this announcement. 

No one was considered a disciple of Jesus who had not re- 
ceived baptism, and it thus appears that there were many aged 
persons, living about a.d. 150, to whom, when children, the 
ordinance had been administered. We may infer, also, that 
Polycarp, when an infant, had been in this way admitted with- 
in the pale of visible Christianity. Infant baptism was, there- 
fore, an institution of the age of the apostles. This conclusion 
is corroborated by the fact that Justin Martyr speaks of bap- 
tism as supplying the place of circumcision. " We," says he, 
" who through Christ have access .to God, have not received 
that circumcision which is in the flesh, but that spiritual cir- 
cumcision which Enoch, and others like him, observed. And 
this, because we have been sinners, we do, through the mercy 
of God, receive by baptism." 1 Justin would scarcely have rep- 
resented the initiatory ordinance of the Christian Church as 
supplying so efficiently the place of the Jewish rite, had it not 
been of equally extensive application. The testimony of 
Irenseus, the disciple of Polycarp, throws additional light upon 
this argument. " Christ," says he, " came to save all persons 
by Himself; all, I say, who by Him are regenerated unto God 
— infants, and little ones, and children, and youths, and aged 
persons ; therefore He went through the several ages, being 
made an infant for infants, that He might sanctify infants ;* 
and, for little ones, He was made a little one, to sanctify them 
of that age also." 3 Irenseus elsewhere speaks of baptism as 
our regeneration or new birth unto God? so that his meaning 
in this passage can not well be disputed. He was born on 

1 Dialogue with Trypho. Opera, p. 261. 

2 There may here be a reference to 1 Cor. vii. 14. 

3 Book ii., c. xxii., § 4. 

4 Thus he says : " Giving to His disciples the power of regeneration unto 
God, He said to them, Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." — Book iii., c. xvii., § 1. 
Thus, too, he speaks of the heretics using certain rites " to the rejection of 
baptism, which is regeneration unto God." — Book i., c. xxi., § I. Irenaeus 
here means that baptism is typically regeneration, in the same way as the 
bread and wine in the Eucharist are typically the body and blood of Christ. 



432 INFANT BAPTISM. 

the confines of the apostolic age, and when he mentions the 
regeneration unto God of " infants, and little ones, and chil- 
dren," he alludes to their admission by baptism to the seal of 
salvation. 

The celebrated Origen was born in A.D. 185, and we have 
as strong circumstantial evidence as we could well desire that 
he was baptized in infancy. 1 Both his parents were Christians, 
and as soon as he was capable of receiving instruction, he be- 
gan to enjoy the advantages of a pious education. He affirms, 
not only that the practice of infant baptism prevailed in his 
own age, but that it had been handed down as an ecclesiasti- 
cal ordinance from the first century. " None," says he, " are 
free from pollution, though his life upon the earth be but the 
length of one day, and for this reason even infants are bap- 
tized, because by the sacrament of baptism the pollution of 
our birth is put away."* " The Church has received the cus- 
tom of baptizing little children />'tf;/z the apostles."* 

The only writer of the first three centuries who questions 
the propriety of infant baptism is Tertullian. The passage in 
which he expounds his views on this subject is a most trans- 
parent specimen of special pleading, and the extravagant rec- 
ommendations it contains sufficiently attest that he had taken 
up a false position. " Considering," says he, " every one's 
condition and disposition, and also his age, the delay of bap- 
tism is more advantageous, but especially in the case of little 
children. For what necessity is there that the sponsors be 
brought into danger ? Because they may fail to fulfil their 

1 That infant baptism was now practiced at Alexandria is apparent also 
from the testimony of Clemens Alexandrinus, who, in allusion to this rite, 
speaks of "the children that are drawn up out of the water" — Pcedag. iii. 
c. 11. 

2 Horn. xiv. in "Lucam." Opera, iii. 948. See also Opera, ii. 230. Horn, 
viii. in " Leviticum." 

g Comment, in " Epist. ad Roman." lib. v., Opera, iv. 565. According to 
Eusebius (vi. 19), the Christian doctrine was conveyed to Origen " from his 
forefathers " — m irpoyovav — or, as Rufinus translates it, ab avis atque atavis, 
" from his grandfathers and great-grandfathers," so that the tradition may 
have been handed down in his own family from the apostolic age. See 
" Wall's History of Infant Baptism," i. 124. Oxford, 1836. 



TERTULLIAN S TESTIMONY. 433 

promises by death, or may be deceived by the child's proving 
of a wicked disposition. Our Lord says indeed, ' Do not for- 
bid them to come unto me.' Let them come, therefore, whilst 
they are growing up, let them come whilst they are learning, 
whilst they are being taught where it is they are coming, let 
them be made Christians when they are capable of knowing 
Christ. Why should their innocent age make haste to the re- 
mission of sins ? Men proceed more cautiously in worldly 
things ; and he that is not trusted with earthly goods, why 
should he be trusted with divine ? Let them know how to 
ask salvation, that you may appear to give it to one that ask- 
eth. For no less reason unmarried persons ought to be de- 
layed, because they are exposed to temptations, as well vir- 
gins that are come to maturity, as those that are in widow- 
hood and have little occupation, until they either marry or be 
confirmed in continence. They who know the weight of bap- 
tism will rather dread its attainment than its postponement." * 
In the apostolic age all adults, when admitted to baptism, 
answered for themselves. Had additional sponsors been re- 
quired for the three thousand converts who joined the Church 
on the day of Pentecost, 2 they could not have been procured. 
The Ethiopian eunuch and the Philippian jailer 3 were their 
own sponsors. Until long after the time when Tertullian 
wrote, there were, in the case of adults, no other sponsors 
than the parties themselves. But when an infant was dedi- 
cated to God in baptism, the parents were required to make a 
profession of the faith, and to undertake to train up their little 
one in the way of righteousness. 4 It is to this arrangement 

1 " De Baptismo," c. 18. 2 Acts ii. 41. 

8 Acts viii. 37, 38; xvi. 31-33. 

4 Parents were commonly sponsors for their own children, .... and the 
extraordinary cases in which they were presented by others, were commonly 
such cases, where the parent could not, or would not, do that kind office for 
them ; as when slaves were presented to baptism by their masters, or chil- 
dren whose parents were dead, were brought, by the charity of any who 
would show mercy on them ; or children exposed by their parents, which 
were sometimes taken up by the holy virgins of the Church, and by them 
presented unto baptism. These are the only cases mentioned by St. Austin 
in which children seem to have had other sponsors." — Bingham, iii. 552. 
28 



434 TERTULLIANS TESTIMONY. 

that Tertullian refers when he says, " What necessity is there 
that the sponsors be brought into danger ? Because even they 
may fail to fulfil their promises by death, or may be deceived 
by the child's proving of a wicked disposition." 

It is plain, from his own statements, that infant baptism 
was practiced in the days of this father ; and also, that it was 
then said to rest on the authority of the New Testament. Its 
advocates, he alleges, quoted in its defence the words of our 
Saviour, " Suffer the little children to come unto me, and for- 
bid them not." ' And how does Tertullian meet this argu- 
ment ? Does he venture to say that it is contradicted by any 
other Scripture testimony ? Does he pretend to assert that 
the appearance of parents as sponsors for their children, is an 
ecclesiastical innovation ? Had this acute and learned con- 
troversialist been prepared to encounter infant baptism on 
such grounds, he would not have neglected his opportunity. 
But, instead of pursuing such a line of reasoning, he merely 
exhibits his weakness by resorting to a piece of miserable 
sophistry. When our Lord said, " Suffer the little children 
to come unto me, and forbid them not," He illustrated His 
meaning as He " took them up in His arms, put His hands 
upon them and blessed them "; 2 so that the gloss of Tertullian, 
" Let them come whilst they are growing up, let them come 
whilst they are learning," is a palpable misinterpretation. Nor 
is this all. The Carthaginian father was aware that there 
were frequent instances in the days of the apostles of the bap- 
tism of whole households ; and yet he maintains that the un- 
married, especially young widows, can not with safety be ad- 
mitted to the ordinance. Had he been with Paul and Silas 
at Philippi he could thus scarcely have consented to the bap- 
tism of Lydia ; and he must certainly have protested against 
the administration of the rite to all the members of her 
family. 3 

Though Tertullian may not have formally separated from the 
Church when he wrote the tract in which this passage occurs, 

1 Mark x. 14. 2 Compare Mark x. 13-16 with Luke xviii. 15, 16. 

3 See Acts xvi. 15. 



FOLLY OF TERTULLIAN. 435 

he had already adopted the principles of the Montanists. 
These errorists held that any one who had fallen into heinous 
sin after baptism should never again be admitted to ecclesias- 
tical fellowship ; and this little book itself supplies proof that 
its author supported the same doctrine. He here declares 
that the man " who renews his sins after baptism " is " destin- 
ed to fire "; and he intimates that martyrdom, or " the baptism 
of blood," can alone " restore " such an offender. 1 It was 
obviously the policy of the Montanists to discourage infant 
baptism, and to retain the mass of their adherents, as long as 
possible, in the condition of catechumens. Hence Tertullian 
here asserts that " they who know the weight of baptism will 
rather dread its attainment than its postponement." 2 But 
neither the apostles, nor the early Church, had any sympathy 
with such a sentiment. They represent baptism as a privilege 
— as a sign and seal of God's favor — which all should thank- 
fully embrace. On the very day on which Peter denounced 
the Jews as having with wicked hands crucified his Master, he 
assisted in the baptism of three thousand of these transgressors. 
" Repent," says he, " and be baptized every one of yon in the name 
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive 
the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you and to 
your children." 3 Tertullian would have given them no such 
encouragement. But the Montanists believed that their 
Phrygian Paraclete was commissioned to supersede the apos- 
tolic discipline. When the African father attacked infant 
baptism he acted under this conviction ; and whilst seeking to 
set aside the arrangements of the Church of his own age, he 

1 " De Baptismo," c. viii. xvi. 

2 It would be thought by many a cruelty to place a person without his 
own consent, and in unconscious infancy, in a situation, so far, much more 
disadvantageous than that of those brought up pagans, that if he did ever — 
suppose at the age of fifteen or twenty — fall into any sin, he must remain 
for the rest of his life — perhaps for above half a century — deprived of all 
hope, or at least of all confident hope, of restoration to the divine favor ; shut 
out from all that cheering prospect which, if his baptism in infancy had been 
omitted, might have lain before him." — Archbishop Whatelys Scripture 
Doctrine concernitig the Sacraments, p. n, note. 

8 Acts ii. 38, 39. 



436 TESTIMONY OF AN AFRICAN SYNOD. 

felt no scruple in venturing at the same time to subvert an 
institute of primitive Christianity. 

We have the clearest evidence that, little more than twenty- 
years after the death of Tertullian, the whole Church of Africa 
recognized the propriety of this practice. About the middle 
of the third century a bishop of that country, named Fidus, 
had taken up the idea, that, when administering the ordinance, 
he was bound to adhere to the very letter of the law relative to 
circumcision, 1 and that therefore he was not at liberty to bap- 
tize the child before the eighth day after its birth. When the 
case was submitted to Cyprian and an African synod, consist- 
ing of sixty-six bishops, they unanimously decided that these 
scruples were groundless ; and, in an epistle addressed to the 
pastor who entertained them, the Assembly thus communicated 
the result of its deliberations : " As regards the case of infants 
who, you say, should not be baptized within the second or 
third day after their birth, and that respect should be had to 
the law of the ancient circumcision, whence you think that one 
newly born should not be baptized and sanctified within the 
eighth day, we all in our council thought very differently. . . . 
If even to the most grievous offenders, .... when they after- 
ward believe, remission of sins is granted, and no one is de- 
barred from baptism and grace, how much more ought not an 
infant to be debarred who, being newly born, has in no way 
sinned, except that being born after Adam in the flesh, he has 
by his first birth contracted the contagion of the old death ; 
who is on this very account more easily admitted to receive 
remission of sins, in that, not his own, but another's sins are 
remitted to him." a 

Whilst it is apparent that the baptism of infants was the 
established order of the Church, it is equally clear that the 
particular mode of administration was not considered essential 
to the validity of the ordinance. It was usually dispensed by 
immersion or affusion, 3 but when the health of the candidate 

1 Gen. xvii. 12 ; Lev. xii. 3. 2 Epist. lix., pp. 211, 212. 

3 Laurentius, a Roman deacon, who flourished about the middle of the 
third century, is represented as baptizing one Romanus, a soldier, in a pitch- 
er of water, and another individual, named Lucillus, by pouring water upon 
his head. See Bingham, iii. 599. 



FALSE VIEWS AND FOOLISH APPENDAGES. 437 

might have been injured by such an ordeal, sprinkling was 
deemed sufficient. Aspersion was commonly employed in the 
case of the sick, and was known by the designation of clinic or 
bed baptism. Cyprian points out to one of his correspondents 
the absurdity of the idea that the extent to which the water 
is applied can affect the character of the institution. " In the 
saving sacrament," says he, " the contagion of sin is not washed 
away just in the same way as is the filth of the skin and body 
in the ordinary ablution of the flesh, so that there should be 
need of saltpetre and other appliances, and a bath and a pool in 

which the poor body may be washed and cleansed It 

is apparent that the sprinkling of water has like force with the 
saving washing, and that when this is done in the Church, 
where the faith both of the giver and receiver is entire, 1 all 
holds good and is consummated and perfected by the power 
of the Lord, and the truth of faith." 2 

Cyprian is here perfectly right in maintaining that the es- 
sence of baptism does not consist in the way in which the water 
is administered ; but much of the language he employs in 
speaking of this ordinance can not be commended as sober and 
scriptural. He often confounds it with regeneration, and ex- 
presses himself as if the mere rite possessed a mystic virtue. 
" The birth of Christians," says he, " is in baptism." 3 " The 
Church alone has the life-giving water"* " The water must 
first be cleansed and sanctified by the priest, that it may be 
able, by baptism therein, to wash away the sins of the bap- 
tized." ! Tertullian and other writers of the third century, 
make use of phraseology equally unguarded. 6 When the true 
character of the institute was so far misunderstood, it is not 
extraordinary that it began to be tricked out in the trappings 
of superstition. The candidate, as early as the third century, 

1 Here the validity of the ordinance is made to depend on the personal 
character of the administrator. 

2 Epist. lxxvi., p. 321. s Epist. lxxiv., p. 295. 

4 Epist. lxxvi., p. 317. In like manner Clement of Alexandria says, " Our 
transgressions are remitted by one sovereign medicine, the baptism accord- 
ing to the Word." See Kaye's " Clement," p. 437. 

5 Epist. lxx., p. 269. 6 Tertullian, " De Baptismo," c. 1. 



438 THE BAPTISMAL SERVICE. 

was exorcised before baptism, with a view to the expulsion of 
evil spirits ; ' and, in some places, after the application of the 
water, when the kiss of peace was given to him, a mixture of 
milk and honey was administered. 2 He was then anointed 
and marked on the forehead with the sign of the cross. 5 
Finally, the presiding minister, by the laying on of hands, be- 
stowed the benediction. 1 Tertullian endeavors to explain 
some of these ceremonies. " The flesh," says he, " is washed, 
that the soul may be freed from spots ; the flesh is anointed, 
that the soul may be consecrated ; the flesh is marked (with 
the sign of the cross)J that the soul may be guarded ; the flesh 
is overshadowed by the imposition of hands, that the soul may 
be enlightened by the Spirit." 5 

It is not improbable that the baptismal service constituted 
the first germ of a Church liturgy. As the ordinance was so 
frequently celebrated, it was found convenient to adhere to 
the same form, not only in the words of administration, 6 but 
also in the accompanying prayers ; and thus each pastor soon 
had his own baptismal orifice. But when heresies spread, and 
when, in consequence, measures were taken to preserve the 
unity of the Catholic faith, a uniform series of questions — 
prepared, perhaps, by councils and adopted by the several 
ministers — was addressed to all catechumens. Thus the bap- 
tismal services were gradually assimilated ; and, as the power 
of the hierarchy increased, one general office, in each district, 
superseded all the previously-existing formularies. 

Baptism, as dispensed in apostolic simplicity, is a most sig- 
nificant ordinance ; but the original rite was soon well-nigh 

1 Cyprian, " Con. Carthag." pp. 600, 602. 

9 See Kaye's " Clement of Alexandria," p. 441, and Tertullian, " De Co- 
rona," c. 3. 

3 Tertullian, " De Baptismo," c. 7. 

4 Tertullian, " De Baptismo," c. 8. The rite of confirmation thus origi- 
nated. The Greek Church still follows the ancient usage, and dispenses it to 
infants shortly after baptism. See Waddington's "Present Condition of the 
Greek Church," p. 43. London, 1829. 

5 " De Resurrectione Carnis," c. 8. 

6 " In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." — 
Matt, xxviii. 19. 



THE ORDINANCE DISFIGURED. 439 

hidden behind the rubbish of human inventions. The milk 
and honey, the unction, the crossing, the kiss of peace, and 
the imposition of hands, were all designed to render it more 
imposing ; and, still farther to deepen the impression, it was 
already administered in the presence of none save those who 
had themselves been thus initiated. 1 But the foolishness of 
God is wiser than man. Nothing is more to be deprecated 
than any attempt to improve upon the institutions of Christ. 
Baptism, as established by the Divine Founder of our religion, 
is a visible exhibition of the Gospel ; but, as known in the 
third century, it had much of the character of one of the 
heathen mysteries. It was intended to confirm faith ; but it 
was now contributing to foster superstition. How soon had 
the gold become dim, and the most fine gold been changed j 

1 Bingham, iii. 377. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

BAPTISM and the Lord's Supper may be regarded as a typi- 
cal or pictorial summary of the great salvation. In Baptism 
the Gospel is exhibited subjectively — renewing the heart and 
cleansing from all iniquity : in the Lord's Supper it is exhibit- 
ed objectively — providing a mighty Mediator, and a perfect 
atonement. Regeneration and Propitiation are central truths 
toward which all the other doctrines of Christianity converge ; 
and in marking them out by corresponding symbols, the Head 
of the Church has been graciously pleased to signalize their 
importance. 

The Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation and 
thoroughly furnished unto all good works ; but we are not at 
liberty to adulterate these records either by addition or sub- 
traction. If they should be preserved exactly as they issued 
from the pen of inspiration, it is clear that the visible ordi- 
nances in which they are epitomized should also be maintained 
in their integrity. He who tampers with a divinely-instituted 
symbol is obviously to some extent obnoxious to the maledic- 
tion 1 pronounced upon the man who adds to, or takes away 
from, the words of the book of God's prophecy. 

Had the original form of administering the Lord's Supper 
been rigidly maintained, the Church would have avoided a mul- 
titude of errors ; but very soon the spirit of innovation began to 
disfigure this institute. The mode in which it was observed, and 
the views which were entertained respecting it by the Chris- 
tians of Rome, about the middle of the second century, are 
minutely described by Justin Martyr. " There is brought," 

1 Rev. xxii. 18, 19. 
(440) 






THE LORD S SUPPER. 441 

says he, " to that one of the brethren who is president, bread 
and a cup of wine mixed with water. And he, having received 

them, gives praise and glory to the Father of all things 

And when he has finished his praises and thanksgiving, all 
the people who are present express their assent saying Amen, 
which in the Hebrew tongue signifies so be it. The president 
having given thanks, and the people having expressed their 
assent, those whom we call deacons give to each of those who 
are present a portion of the bread which has been blessed, and 
of the wine mixed with water ; and carry away some for those 
who are absent.*' And this food is called by us the Eucharist, 
of which no one may partake unless he believes that which 
we teach is true, and is baptized, .... and lives in such a 
manner as Christ commanded. For we receive not these ele- 
ments as common bread or common drink. But even as Jesus 
Christ our Saviour .... had both flesh and blood for our 
salvation, even so we are taught that the food which is blessed 
. ... by the digestion of which our blood and flesh are 
nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made 
flesh. For the apostles in the memoirs composed by them, 
which are called Gospels, have related that Jesus thus com- 
manded them, that having taken bread and given thanks He 
said, ' Do this in remembrance of me, this is my body '; and 
that in like manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, 
He said, l This is my blood '; and that He distributed them 
to these alone." 1 

The writer does not here mention the posture of the disci- 
ples when communicating, but it is highly probable that they 
still continued to sit? in accordance with the primitive pat- 
tern. As they received the ordinance in the same attitude as 
that in which they partook of their common meals, the story 

1 " Apol." ii., Opera, pp. 97, 98. 

2 In an article on the Roman Catacombs, in the Edinburgh Review for 
January, 1859, the writer observes : "It is apparent from all the paintings 
of Christian feasts, whether of the Agapae, or the burial feasts of the dead, 
or the Communion of the Holy Sacrament, that they were celebrated by the 
early Christians sitting round a table." See also Northcote's " Roman 
Catacombs," p. 63. 



442 THE ELEMENTS. 

that their religious assemblies were the scenes of unnatural 
feasting, may have thus originated. 1 For the first three cent- 
uries, kneeling 2X the Lord's Supper was unknown; and it is 
not till about a hundred years after the death of the Apostle 
John, that we read of the communicants standing? 1 Through- 
out the whole of the third century, this was the position in 
which they partook of the elements. 3 

The bread and wine of the Eucharist were supplied by the 
worshippers, who made " oblations " according to their ability, 4 
as well for the support of the ministers of the Church, as for 
the celebration of its ordinances. There is no reason to be- 
lieve that the bread, used at this period in the holy Supper, 
was unfermented ; for, though our Lord distributed a loaf, or 
cake, of that quality when the rite was instituted, the early 
Christians considered the circumstance accidental ; as un- 
leavened bread was in ordinary use among the Jews at the 
time of the Passover. The disciples had less reason for mix- 
ing the wine with water, and they could have produced no 
good evidence that such was the beverage used by Christ when 
He appointed this commemoration. In the third century 
superstition already recognized a mystery in the mixture. 
" We see," says Cyprian, " that in the water the people are 
represented, but that in the wine is exhibited the blood of 
Christ. When, however, in the cup water is mingled with 
wine, the people are united to Christ, and the multitude of 
the faithful are coupled and conjoined to Him on whom they 
believe." £ The bread was not put into the mouth of the com- 
municant by the administrator, but was handed to him by a 
deacon ; and the better to show forth the unity of the Church, 

3 This calumny created much prejudice against them in the second cent- 
ury. See Justin Martyr's "Dialogue with Trypho," § 10 ; and the " Apol- 
ogy of Athenagoras," § 3. If Pliny refers to the Eucharist when he speaks 
of the early Christians as partaking of food together, it is obvious that they 
must then have communicated sitting, or in the posture in which they par- 
took of their ordinary meals. 

2 Tertullian, " De Oratione," c. 14. 3 See Euseb. vii. 9. 

4 Justin Martyr, "Apol." ii. 98; and Tertullian's "Apol." c. 39. 
6 Epist. lxiii. " To Csecilius," Opera, p. 229. 



TRANSUBSTANTIATION UNKNOWN. 443 

all partook of one loaf made of a size sufficient to supply the 
whole congregation. 1 The wine was administered separately, 
and was drunk out of a cup or chalice. As early as the third 
century an idea began to be entertained that the Eucharist 
was necessary to salvation, and it was, in consequence, given 
to infants. 2 None were now suffered to be present at its cele- 
bration but those who were communicants ; 3 for even the 
catechumens, or candidates for baptism, were obliged to with- 
draw before the elements were consecrated. 

The Passover was kept only once a year, but the Eucharist, 
which was the corresponding ordinance of the Christian dis- 
pensation, was observed much more frequently. Justin inti- 
mates that it was administered every Lord's day, and other 
fathers of this period bear similar testimony. Cyprian speaks 
even of its daily celebration. 4 The New Testament has pro- 
mulgated no precise law upon the subject, and only the more 
zealous disciples communicated weekly. On the Paschal week 
it was observed with peculiar solemnity, and by the greatest 
concourse of worshippers. 

The term sacrament was applied to both Baptism and the 
Lord's Supper ; but it was not confined to these two symbolic 
ordinances. 5 ''The word transubstantiation was not introduced 
until upwards of a thousand years after the death of our Sav- 
iour; 6 and the doctrine which it indicates was not known to 
any of the fathers of the first three centuries. They all con- 
cur in describing the elements, after consecration, as bread 
and wine ; they all represent them as passing through the 
usual process of digestion ; and they all speak of them as sym- 

1 Larroque's "History of the Eucharist," p. 35. London, 1684. 

2 C3'prian, " De Lapsis," Opera, pp. 375, 381. This was the result of 
carrying to excess a protest against the Montanist opposition to infant bap- 
tism. Such a reaction often occurs. It was now maintained that the 
Lord's Supper, as well as Baptism, should be administered to infants. 

3 At an earlier period it was dispensed in presence of the catechumens. 
See Bingham, iii. p. 380. 

4 " De Oratione Dominica," Opera, p. 421. 

5 See Kaye's " Tertullian," p. 357. 

6 See Gieseler's "Text-Book of Ecclesiastical History," by Cunningham, 
ii. 331, note 3. 



444 HOW CHRIST IS IN THE SUPPER. 

bols of the body and blood of Christ. In this strain Justin 
Martyr discourses of " that bread which our Christ has com- 
manded us to offer in remembrance of His being made flesh, 
. . . . and of that cup which He commanded those that cele- 
brate the Eucharist to offer in remembrance of His blood." 1 
According to Clement of Alexandria the Scripture designates 
wine "a mystic symbol of the holy blood." 2 Origen, as if 
anticipating the darkness which was to overspread the Church, 
expresses himself very much in the style of a zealous Protes- 
tant. He denounces as "simpletons" 3 those who attributed a 
supernatural power to the Eucharistic elements, and repeat- 
edly affirms that the words used at the institution of the 
Lord's Supper are to be interpreted spiritually. " The meat," 
says he, " which is sanctified by the Word of God, and prayer, 
as it is material, goes into the stomach, .... but, by reason 
of prayer made over it, it is profitable according to the propor- 
tion of faith, and is the cause that the understanding is enlight- 
ened and attentive to what is profitable ; and it is not the 
substance of bread, but the word pronounced upon it, which is 
profitable to him who eats it in a way not unworthy of the 
Lord." 4 Cyprian uses language scarcely less equivocal, for 
he speaks of " that wine whereby the blood of Christ is set 
forth," 6 and asserts that it "was wine which He called His 
blood." 6 x 

Christ has said, " Where two or three are gathered together 
in my name, there am I in the midst of them "; 7 and, true to 
His promises, He is really present with His people in every 
act of devotion. Even when they draw near to Him in secret, 
or when they read His Word, or when they meditate on His 
mercy, as well as when they listen to His Gospel preached in 
the great congregation, He manifests Himself to them not as 
He does unto the world. But in the Eucharist He reveals 

1 " Dialogue with Trypho," Opera, pp. 296, 297. 

2 See Kaye's " Clement of Alexandria," p. 445. 

3 anepaioripuv, Opera, iii., p. 498. 

4 In Mat. torn. xi. Opera, iii., 499, 500. 

5 Epist. lxiii. " To Caecilius," Opera, p. 225. 

6 Epist. lxiii., Opera, 228. 7 Matt, xviii. 20. 






TRACES OF SUPERSTITION. 445 

His character more significantly than in any of His other ordi- 
nances ; for He here addresses Himself to all the senses, as 
well as to the soul. In the words of institution, they " hear 
His voice "; when the elements are presented to them, they 
perceive, as it were, " the smell of His garments "; with their 
hands they " handle of the Word of Life "; and they " taste 
and see that the Lord is good." But some of the early Chris- 
tian writers were by no means satisfied with such represen- 
tations. They entertained an idea that Christ was in the 
Eucharist, not only in richer manifestations of His grace, but 
also in a way altogether different from that in which He vouch- 
safes His presence in prayer, or praise, or any other divine 
observance. They conceived that, as the soul of man is united 
to his body, the Logos, or Divine nature of Christ, pervades 
the consecrated bread and wine, so that they may be called 
His flesh and blood ; and they imagined that, in consequence, 
the 'sacred elements imparted to the material frame of the be- 
liever the germ of immortality. 1 Irenaeus declares that " our 
bodies, receiving the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, but 
possessed of the hope of eternal life." 2 This misconception 
of the ordinance was the fruitful source of superstition. The 
mere elements began to be regarded with awful reverence; 
the loss of a particle of the bread, or of a drop of the wine, 
was considered a tremendous desecration ; and it was prob- 
ably the growth of such feelings which initiated the custom 
of standing at the time of participation. But still there were 
fathers who were not carried away with the delusion, and who 
knew that the disposition of the worshipper was of far more 
consequence than the care with which he handled the holy' 
symbols. " You who frequent our sacred mysteries," says 
Origen, " know that when you receive the body of the Lord, 
you take care with all due caution and veneration, that not 
even the smallest particle of the consecrated gift shall fall to 
* 

1 Irenaeus, " Contra Haereses," v., c. 2, § 3. Clement of Alexandria says 
that " to drink the blood of Jesus is to partake of the incorruption of the 
Lord." — Pcedagogue, book ii. 

2 " Contra Hasreses," iv., c. 18, § 5. 



446 THE EUCHARIST IMPROPERLY DESIGNATED. 

the ground and be wasted. 1 If, through inattention, any part 
thus falls, you justly account yourselves guilty. If then, with 
good reason, you use so much caution in preserving His body, 
how can you esteem it a lighter sin to slight the Word of God 
than to neglect His body?" 2 

" The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a 
furnace of earth purified seven times." 3 The history of Bap- 
tism and the Lord's Supper demonstrated that, when speaking 
of the ordinances of religion, it is exceedingly dangerous to 
depart even from the phraseology which the Holy Spirit has 
dictated. In the second century Baptism was called " regen- 
eration," and the Eucharistic bread was known by the com- 
pendious designation of " the Lord's body." Such language, 
if typically understood, could create no perplexity ; but all by 
whom it was used did not give it a right interpretation, and 
thus many misconceptions were speedily generated. In a 
short time names for which there is no warrant in the Word 
of God were applied to the Lord's Supper ; and false doctrines 
were eventually deduced from these ill-chosen and unauthor- 
ized designations. Thus, before the close of the second cent- 
ury, it was called an offering, and a sacrifice? and the table at 
which it was administered was styled the altar!' Though 
these terms were now used rhetorically, in after-ages they 
were literally interpreted ; and in this way the most astound- 
ing errors gradually gained currency. Meanwhile other topics 
led to keen discussion ; but there was a growing disposition 
to shroud the Eucharist in mystery; and hence, for many 
centuries, the question as to the manner of Christ's presence 
in the ordinance awakened no controversy. 

1 This feeling prevailed in the time of Tertullian. " Calicis aut panis 
etiam nostri aliquid decuti in terram anxie patimur." — De Corona, c. 3. 

2 Horn. xiii. in "Exod." Opera, ii. 176. 3 Ps. xii. 6. 

4 See Kaye's "Justin Martyr," p. 94. Irenseus, iv., c. 17, § 5. Tertullian, 
" De Oratione," c. 14. 

& " Nonne solemnior erit statio tua, si et ad aram Dei steteris ? " Ter- 
tullian, " De Oratione," c. 14, or, according to Oehler, c. 19. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CONFESSION AND PENANCE. 

When the Evangelist Matthew is describing the ministry 
of John the Baptist, he states that there " went out to him 
Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about 
Jordan; and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their 
sins." 1 The ministry of Paul at Ephesus produced similar 
results ; for " fear fell " on all the Jews and Greeks dwelling 
in that great capital, " and many that believed came, and con- 
fessed, and showed their deeds." 2 

The confession here mentioned obviously flowed spontane- 
ously from deep religious convictions. It was not a private 
admission of guilt made to an ecclesiastical functionary ; but a 
public acknowledgment of .acts which weighed heavily on the 
consciences of individuals, and which they felt constrained to 
recapitulate and to condemn. Men awakened to a sense of 
their sins deemed it due to themselves and to society, to state 
how sincerely they deplored their past career ; and their words 
often produced a profound impression on the multitudes to 
whom they were addressed. These confessions of sin, con- 
nected with a confession of faith in Christ, were generally as- 
sociated with the ordinance of baptism. They were not re- 
quired from all, but only tendered in cases where there had 
been notorious and flagrant criminality ; and they were of a 
very partial character, only embracing such transgressions as 
the party had some urgent reason for specializing. 

In the time of the apostles those who embraced the Gos- 
pel were immediately baptized. Thus, the three thousand 
persons converted on the day of Pentecost were forthwith re- 

1 Matt. iii. 5, 6. 2 Acts xix. 17, 18. 

(447) 



448 FASTING BEFORE BAPTISM. 

ceived into the bosom of the Church ; and the Philippian 
jailer, " the same hour of the night " 2 when he hearkened to 
" the word of the Lord," " was baptized, he and all his, 
straightway." But, soon afterward, the Christian teachers be- 
gan to proceed with greater formality ; and, about the mid- 
dle of the second century, candidates were not admitted to the 
ordinance till they had passed through a certain course of pro- 
bation. " As many," says Justin Martyr, " as are persuaded 
and believe that the things which we teach and declare are 
true, and promise that they are determined to live accordingly, 
are taught to pray, and to beseech God with fasting to grant 
them remission of their past sins, while we also pray and fast 
with them. We then lead them to a place where there is 
water, and there they are regenerated in the same manner as 
we also were ; for they are then washed in that water in the 
name of God the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our 
Saviour Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit." 2 

These confessions and penitential exercises were repeated 
and enlarged when persons who had lapsed into gross sin, and 
who had, in consequence, forfeited their position as members 
of the Church, sought readmission to ecclesiastical fellowship. 
It would be difficult, on scriptural grounds, to vindicate the 
system of discipline enforced on such occasions ; and yet it is 
evident that it was established, at least in some quarters, as 
early as the beginning of the third century. Tertullian gives 
a very striking account of the course pursued by those called 
penitents about that period. " Confession of sins," says he, 
''lightens their burden, as much as the dissembling of them 
increases it ; for confession savors of making amends — dis- 
sembling, of stubbornness Wherefore confession is the 

discipline of a man's prostrating and humbling himself, enjoin- 
ing such a conversation as invites mercy. It restrains a man 
even as to the matter of dress and food, requiring him to lie 
in sackcloth and ashes, to hide his body in filthy garments, to 
afflict his soul with sorrow, to exchange for severe treatment 
the sins in which he indulged ; for the rest to use simple 

1 Acts xvi. 33. 2 " Apol." ii., Opera, pp. 93, 94. 



FASTING A SIGN OF SORROW. 449 

things for meat and drink, that is, for the sake of the soul, 
and not to please the appetite : for the most part also to 
quicken prayer by fasts, to groan, to weep, and to moan day 
and night before the Lord his God ; to throw himself on the 
ground before the presbyters, and to fall on his knees before 
the beloved of God ; to enjoin all the brethren to bear the 
message of his prayer for mercy — all these things does con- 
fession that it may commend repentance." ' 

When a man is overwhelmed with grief, the state of his 
mind will often be revealed by the loss of his appetite. He 
will think little of his dress and personal accommodation ; and 
though he may give no utterance to his feelings, his general 
appearance will betray to the eye of an observer the depth of 
his affliction. The mourner not unfrequently takes a melan- 
choly satisfaction in surrounding himself with the symbols of 
sorrow ; and we read, accordingly, in Scripture how, in ancient 
times, and in Eastern countries, he clothed himself in sack- 
cloth and sat in ashes. 2 There is a wonderful sympathy be- 
tween the body and the mind ; and as grief affects the appe- 
tite, occasional abstinence from food may foster a serious and 
contrite spirit. Hence fasting has been so commonly asso- 
ciated with penitential exercises. 

Fasting is not to be regarded as one of the ordinary duties 
of a disciple of Christ, 3 but rather as a kind of discipline in 
which he feels called on to engage under special circumstances. 4 
When oppressed with a consciousness of guilt, or anxious for 
divine direction on a critical occasion, or trembling under the 
apprehension of impending judgments, he thus seeks to " af- 
flict his soul," that he may draw near with deeper humility and 
reverence into the presence of the Divine Majesty. But, in 
such a case, every one should act according to the dictates of 
his own enlightened convictions. As the duty is extraordi- 
nary, the self-denial to be practiced must be regulated by vari- 

1 " De Poenitentia," c. ix. 

2 Joshua vii. 6 ; Esther iv. I ; Isaiah Iviii. 5 ; Ezek. xxvii. 30. 

3 See a " Memorial concerning Personal and Family Fasting," by the pi- 
ous Thomas Boston. Edinburgh, 1849. 

4 Matt. ix. 15. 



450 FASTING. 

ous contingencies ; and no one can well prescribe to another 
its amount or duration. 

According to the Mosaic law, only one day in the year — 
the great day of atonement — was required to be kept as a 
national fast. 1 There is now no divine warrant for so observ- 
ing any corresponding day, and for upwards of a hundred years 
after the death of our Lord, there is no evidence that any fixed 
portion of time was thus appropriated under the sanction of 
ecclesiastical authority. But toward the close of the second 
century the termination of the Paschal week was often so em- 
ployed — the interval, between the hour on Friday when our 
Lord expired and the morning of the first day of the week, 
being spent in total abstinence. 2 About the same time some 
partially abstained from food on what were called stationary 
days, or the Wednesday and Friday of each week. 3 At this 
period some began also to observe Xerophagiae, or days on 
which they used neither flesh nor wine. 4 Not a few saw the 
danger of this ascetic tendency ; but, whilst it betokened zeal, 
it had also " a show of wisdom," 5 and it silently made great 
progress. Toward the close of the third century the whole 
Church was already pervaded by its influence. 

Fasting has been well described as " the outward shell " of 
penitential sorrow, and is not to be confounded with its spir. 
itual elements. It is its accidental accompaniment, and not 
one of its true and essential features. A man may " bow down 
his head as a bulrush," or fast, or clothe himself in sackcloth, 

1 Lev. xxiii. 27. 

2 The text Matt. ix. 15 was urged in support of this observance. See Ter- 
tullian, " De Jejun," c. ii. 

3 " Wednesday being selected because on that day the Jews took counsel 
to destroy Christ, and Friday because that was the day of His crucifixion." 
— Kayes Tertullzan, p. 418. As Wednesday was dedicated to Mercury 
and Friday to Venus, this fasting, according to Clement, signified to the 
more advanced disciple, that he was to renounce the love of gain and the 
love of pleasure. Kaye's " Clement," p. 454. 

4 These Xerophagiae, or Dry Food Days, were even now objected to by 
some of the more enlightened Christians on the ground that they were an 
import from heathenism. Tertullian, " De Jejun," c. ii. 

5 Col. ii. 23. 



PENITENTIAL DISCIPLINE. 45 1 

when he is an utter stranger to that " repentance to salvation 
not to be repented of." The hypocrite may put on the out- 
ward badges of mourning merely with a view to regain a posi- 
tion in the Church, whilst the sincere penitent may " anoint 
his head and wash his face," and reveal to the eye of the cas- 
ual spectator no tokens of contrition. As repentance is a spir* 
itual exercise, it can only be recognized by spiritual signs ; and 
the rulers of the ancient Church committed a capital error 
when they proposed to test it by certain dietary indications. 
Their penitential discipline was directly opposed to the genu- 
ine spirit of the Gospel ; and was the fountain of many of the su- 
perstitions which, like a river of death, soon overspread Chris- 
tendom. Whilst repentance was reduced to a mechanical 
round of bodily exercises, the doctrine of a free salvation was 
practically repudiated. 

In connection with the appearance of a system of peniten- 
tial discipline, involving in some cases a penance of several 
years' continuance, 1 the distinction of venial and mortal sins 
now began to be recognized. Venial sins were transgressions 
which any sincere believer might commit, whilst mortal sins 
were such as were considered incompatible with the genuine pro- 
fession of Christianity. Penance was prescribed only to those 
who had been.guilty of mortal sins. Its severity and duration 
varied with the character of the offence, and was soon regu- 
lated according to an exact scale arranged by the rulers of 
the Church in their ecclesiastical conventions. 

About the middle of the third century a new arrangement 
was introduced, with a view to promote the more exact ad- 
ministration of penitential discipline. During the Decian per- 
secution which occurred at this time, many were induced by 
fear to abandon the profession of the Gospel ; and, on the re- 
turn of better days, those who sought restoration to Christian 
privileges were so numerous that, in the larger churches, it was 
deemed expedient to require the lapsed, in the first instance, 
to address themselves to one of the presbyters appointed for 
their special examination. The business of this functionary, 

1 Thus Cyprian, Epist. liii., p. 169, speaks of a penance of three years' du- 
ration. 



452 INCREASING SPIRITUAL DARKNESS. 

who was known by the designation of the Penitentiary, 1 was to 
hear the confessions of the penitents, to ascertain the extent 
and circumstances of their apostasy, and to announce the pen- 
ance required from each by the existing ecclesiastical regula- 
tions. The disclosures made to the Penitentiary did not su- 
persede the necessity of public confession ; it was simply the 
duty of this minister to give to the lapsed such instructions as 
his professional experience enabled him to supply, including 
directions as to the fasts they should observe and the sins they 
should openly acknowledge. Under the guidance of the Peni- 
tentiaries, the system of discipline for trangressors was still 
farther matured ; and at length, in the beginning of the fourth 
century, the penitents were divided into various classes, ac- 
cording to their supposed degrees of unworthiness. The mem- 
bers of each class were obliged to occupy a particular position 
in the place of worship when the congregation assembled for 
religious exercises. 2 

'•''The institution known as Auricular Confession had, as yet, 
no existence. In the early Church the disciples, under ordinary 
circumstances, were neither required nor expected, at stated 
seasons, to enter into secret conference with any ecclesiasti- 
cal searcher of consciences. When a professing Christian com- 
mitted a heinous transgression by which religion was scandal- 
ized, he was obliged, before being readmitted to communion, 
to express his sorrow in the face of the congregation ; and the 
revelations made to the Penitentiary did not relieve him from 
this act of humiliation. It is apparent that the whole system 
of penance is an unauthorized addition to the ordinances of 
primitive Christianity. Of such a system we do not find even 
a trace in the New Testament ; and under its blighting influ- 
ence, the religion of the Church gradually became little better 
than a species of refined heathenism. 

The spiritual darkness settling down upon the Christian 
commonwealth may be traced in the growing obscurity of the 
ecclesiastical nomenclature. The power and the form of god- 
liness began to be confounded, and the same term was em- 

1 Socrates, v., c. 19. a See canon xi. of the Council of Nice. . 



THE TRUE REPENTANCE. 453 

ployed to denote penance and repentance. 1 Bodily mortifica- 
tion was mistaken for holiness, and celibacy for sanctity. 9 
Other errors of an equally grave character became current, for 
the penitent was described as making satisfaction for his sins 
by his fasts and his outward acts of self-abasement, 3 and thus 
the all-sufficiency of the great atonement was openly ignored. 
Thus, too, the doctrine of a free salvation to transgressors 
could no longer be proclaimed, for pardon was clogged with 
conditions as burdensome to the sinner, as they were alien to 
the spirit of the New Testament. ^ The doctrine that "a man 
is justified by faith without the deeds of the law," 4 reveals the 
folly of the ancient penitential discipline. Our Father in 
heaven demands no useless tribute of mortification from His 
children ; He merely requires us to " bring forth fruits meet 
for repentance." 5 " Is not this the fast that I have chosen?" 
saith the Lord, " to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the 
heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye 
break every yoke ? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, 
and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house ? 
when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him ; and that 
thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh ? Then shall thy 
light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring 
forth speedily : and thy righteousness shall go before thee ; 
the glory of the Lord shall be thy rere-ward." 6 

1 See Cyprian, Epist. xl., p. 53, and " ad Demetrianum," p. 442. 

2 See p. 382, note 3. 3 See pp. 418, 419. 
4 Rom. iii. 28. 5 Matt. iii. 8. 6 Isa. lviii. 6-8. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH IN THE SECOND 

CENTURY. 

Justin Martyr, who had travelled much, and who was as 
well acquainted with the state of the Church about the middle 
of the second century as most of his contemporaries, has left 
behind him an account of the manner in which its worship was 
then conducted. This account, which has already been sub- 
mitted to the reader, 1 represents one individual as presiding 
over each Christian community, whether in the city or in the 
country. Where the Church consisted of a single congregation, 
and where only one of the elders was competent to preach, it 
is easy to understand how the society was regulated. In ac- 
cordance with apostolic arrangement, the presbyter, who labor- 
ed in the Word and doctrine, was counted worthy of double 
honor, 3 and was recognized as the stated chairman of the 
solemn assembly. His brother elders contributed in various 
ways to assist him in the supervision of the flock; but its 
prosperity greatly depended on his own zeal, piety, prudence, 
and ability. Known at first as the president, and afterward dis- 
tinguished by the title of the bishop, he occupied very much 
the same position as the minister of a modern parish. 

Where a congregation had more than one preaching elder, 
the case was different. There, several individuals were in the 
habit of addressing the auditory, 3 and it was the duty of the 
president to preserve order ; to interpose, perhaps, by occasional 
suggestions ; and to close the exercise. When several con- 
gregations with a plurality of preaching elders existed in the 

1 Period ii., sec. iii., chap, i., p. 424. 2 1 Tim. v. 17. 

3 Apost. Constit., ii., c. 17. 
(454) 






EPISTLES OF CLEMENT AND POLYCARP. 455 

same city, the whole were affiliated ; and a president, acknowl- 
edged by them all, superintended their united movements. 

Much obscurity hangs over the general condition of the 
Christian commonwealth in the first half of the second century ; 
but it so happens that two authentic and valuable documents 
which still remain, one of which was written about the begin- 
ning and the other about the close of this period, throw much 
light upon the question of Church government. These docu- 
ments are the " Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians,' , and 
the " Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians." As to the mat- 
ters respecting which they bear testimony, we could not desire 
more competent witnesses than the authors of these two let- 
ters. The one lived in the West ; the other, in the East. 
Clement, believed by some to be the same who is mentioned 
by the Apostle Paul, 1 was a presbyter of the Church of Rome ; 
Polycarp, who, in his youth, had conversed with the Apostle 
John, was a presbyter of the Church of Smyrna. Clement died 
about the close of the first century, and his letter to the Co- 
rinthians was written three or four years before ; that is, immedi- 
ately after the Domitian persecution ; 2 Polycarp survived un- 
til an advanced period of the second century, and his letter to 
the Philippians may be dated fifty years or upwards later than 
the Epistle of Clement. 3 

1 Phil. iv. 3. 

2 See Donaldson's " Crit. Hist, of Christian Literature and Doctrine from 
the Death of the Apostles to the Nicene Council," p. 91. London, 1864. 

3 No less than five persons are mentioned as having preceded Polycarp in 
the see of Smyrna, viz., Aristo, Stratseas, another Aristo, Apelles, and Bu- 
colus. See Jacobson's " Patres Apostolici," ii. 564, 565, note. It is not at 
all probable that he became the senior presbyter long before the middle of 
the second century. Irenaeus, indeed, tells us that he was constituted bishop 
of Smyrna by the apostles (lib. iii., c. 3, § 4) — a statement which implies that 
at least two of them were concerned in his designation to the ministry ; but 
as he was still young when the last, survivor of the twelve died in extreme 
old age, the words may not mean that he was actually ordained by those to 
whom our Lord originally intrusted the organization of the Church. The 
language may simply import that John and perhaps Philip had announced 
his future eminence when he was yet a child, and that thus, like Timothy, 
he was invested with the pastoral commission " according to the prophecies " 
which they had previously delivered. See 1 Tim. i. 18; iv. 14. But, per- 



456 CLEMENT TO THE CORINTHIANS. 

Toward the termination of the first century a spirit of dis- 
cord disturbed the Church of Corinth ; and the Church of 
Rome, anxious to restore peace, addressed a fraternal letter 
to the distracted community. The Epistle was drawn up by 
Clement, who was then the leading minister of the Italian 
capital ; but, as it is written in the name of the whole broth- 
erhood, and had obtained their sanction, it possesses all the 
authority of a public and official correspondence. From it the 
constitution of the Church of Corinth, and, by implication, of 
the Church of Rome, is easily ascertained ; and it furnishes 
abundant proof that, at the time of its composition, both these 
Christian societies were under presbyterial government. Had 
a prelate then presided in either Church, a circumstance so 
important could not have been entirely overlooked, more es- 
pecially as the document is of considerable length, and as it 
treats expressly upon the subject of ecclesiastical polity. It 
appears that some members of the community to which it is 
addressed had acted undutifully toward those who were over 
them in the Lord, and it accordingly condemns in very em- 
phatic terms a course of proceeding so disreputable. " It is 
shameful, beloved," says the Church of Rome in this letter, 
" it is exceedingly shameful and unworthy of your Christian 
profession, to hear that the most firm and ancient Church of 
the Corinthians should, by one or two persons, be led into a 
sedition against its elders." l " Let the flock of Christ be in 
peace with THE ELDERS THAT ARE SET OVER IT." 2 Having 
stated that the apostles ordained those to whom the charge 
of the Christian Church was originally committed, it is added 
that they gave directions in what manner, after the decease of 
these primitive pastors, " other chosen and approved men should 
succeed to their ministry." 3 The Epistle thus continues: 
■' Wherefore we can not think that those may justly be thrown 
out of their ministry who were either ordained by them (the 

haps, by " apostles '' Irenaeus understands apostolic men, or ministers or- 
dained by the inspired heralds of the Gospel. Thus Clemens Romanus is 
called an apostle by Clemens Alexandrinus. Strom, iv., p. 516. See also 
Euseb. 12. 

1 Sec. 74. 2 Sec. 54. 3 Sec. 44. 



CLEMENT TO THE CORINTHIANS. 457 

apostles), or afterward by other approved men with the appro- 
bation of the whole Church, and who have, with all lowliness 
and innocency, ministered to the flock of Christ in peace and 
without self-interest, and have been/br a longtime commend- 
ed by all. For it would be no small sin in us, should we cast 
off those from the ministry who holily and without blame 
fulfil the duties of it. Blessed are those elders who, having fin- 
ished their course before these times, have obtained a fruitful 
and perfect dissolution." 1 Toward the conclusion of the let- 
ter, the parties who had created this confusion in the Church 
of Corinth have the following admonition addressed to them : 
" Do ye, therefore, who laid the foundation of the sedition, 
submit yourselves unto your elders, and be instructed unto re- 
pentance, bending the knees of your hearts." 2 

In the preservation of this precious letter we are bound to 
recognize the hand of Providence. 3 Its instructions were so 
highly appreciated by the ancient Christians that it continued 
to be publicly read in many of their churches for centuries 
afterward. 4 It is universally acknowledged to be genuine ; it 
breathes the benevolent spirit of a primitive presbyter ; and it 
is distinguished by its sobriety and earnestness. It was writ- 
ten upon the verge of the apostolic age, and it is the produc- 
tion of a pious, sensible, and aged minister who preached for 
years in the capital of the Empire. The Church of Rome has 
since advanced the most extravagant pretensions, and has ap- 
pealed in support of them to ecclesiastical tradition ; but here, 
an elder of her own — one who had conversed with the apos- 
tles, and one whom she delights to honor 5 — deliberately comes 

1 Sec. 44. All these quotations attest the late date of the Epistle. Tille- 
mont places it in a.d. 97. Eusebius had no doubt as to its late date. See 
his " History," iii. 16. 

2 Sec. 57. 

3 For many centuries it was considered lost. At length in the reign of 
Charles I. a copy of it was discovered appended to a very ancient manu- 
script containing the Septuagint and Greek Testament — the manuscript 
now known as the Codex Alexandrinus. 

4 Euseb. iii. 16 ; iv. 23. 

5 See the Romish Breviary under the 23d of November, where a number 
of absurd stories are told concerning him. 



458 THE EPISTLE OF POLYCARP. 

forward and ignores her assumptions ! She fondly believes 
that Clement was an early Pope, but the good man himself 
admits that he was only one of the presbyters. Had there 
then been a bishop of Corinth, this letter would unques- 
tionably have exhorted the malcontents to submit to his juris- 
diction ; or, had there been a bishop of Rome, it would not 
have failed to dilate upon the benefits of episcopal govern- 
ment. But, as to the existence of any such functionary in 
either Church, it preserves throughout a most intelligible si- 
lence. It says that the apostles ordained the first-fruits of 
their conversions, not as bishops and presbyters and deacons, 
but as " bishops and deacons over such as should afterward be- 
lieve "; ' and when it was written, the terms bishop and pres- 
byter were still used interchangeably. 2 ^ 

The Epistle of Polycarp bears equally decisive testimony. 
It was drawn up about the middle of the second century, 3 and 
though the last survivor of the apostles was now dead for 
many years, no general change had meanwhile taken place in 
the form of church government. This document purports to 
be the letter of " Polycarp and the elders who are with him 4 
to the Church of God which is at Philippi "; but it does not 
recognize a bishop as presiding over the Christian community 
to which it is addressed. 5 The Church was still in much the 
same state as when Paul wrote to " the saints in Christ Jesus 
which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons "; 6 for Poly- 
carp was certainly not aware of the existence of any new of- 
fice-bearers ; and he accordingly exhorts his correspondents to 

1 Sec. 42. 

2 They continued to be so used when the Peshito version of the New 
Testament was made. That version is assigned by the best authorities to 
the former half of the second century. See p. 384, note. 

3 It is of nearly the same date as the first Apology of Justin Martyr. 

4 ol ovv avT(5 -n-peGpvTepoL — evidently equivalent to avfiirpea^vrepoi. See I 
Pet. v. 1. 

5 Bishop Lightfoot bears this remarkable testimony concerning it : 
" Though two or three chapters are devoted to injunctions respecting the 
ministry of the Church, there is not an allusion to episcopacy from begin- 
ning to end" — Co7itemporary Review for May, 1875, p. 839. 

6 Phil. i. 1. 



THE EARLY BISHOP A PRESBYTERIAN MODERATOR. 459 

be " subject to the presbyters and deacons." 1 "Let the presby- 
ters!' says he, " be compassionate, merciful to all, bringing 
back such as are in error, seeking out all those that are weak, 
not neglecting the widow or the fatherless, or the poor ; but 
providing always what is good in the sight of God and men ; 
abstaining from all wrath, respect of persons, and unrighteous 
judgment ; being far from all covetousness ; not ready to be- 
lieve anything against any ; not severe in judgment, knowing 
that we are all debtors in point of sin." a 

It is stated by the most learned of the fathers of the fourth 
century that the Church was at first " governed by the com- 
mon council of the presbyters "; 3 and these two letters prove 
most satisfactorily the accuracy of the representation. They 
show that throughout the whole of the apostolic age this species 
of polity continued. But the Scriptures ordain that " all things 
be done decently and in order"; 4 and, as a common council 
requires an official head, or mayor, to take the chair at its 
meetings, and to act on its behalf, the ancient eldership, or pres- 
bytery, had a president or moderator. The duty and honor 
of presiding commonly devolved on the senior member of the 
judicatory. We thus account for those catalogues of bish- 
ops, reaching back to the days of the apostles, which 
are furnished by some of the writers of antiquity. From the 
first, every presbytery had its president ; and as the transition 
from the moderator to the bishop was the work of time, the dis- 
tinction at one period was little more than nominal. Hence, 
writers who lived when the change was taking place, or when 
it had only been recently accomplished, speak of these two 
functionaries as identical. But in their attempts to enumer- 
ate the bishops of the apostolic era, they encountered a prac- 
tical difficulty. The elders who were at first set over the 
Christian societies were all ordained, in each church, on the 
same occasion, 6 and were, perhaps, of nearly the same age, so 
that neither their date of appointment, nor their years, could 
well determine the precedence ; and, in general, no single in- 
dividual continued permanently to occupy the office of mod- 

1 Sec. 5. 2 Sec. 6. 3 Jerome, " Comment, in Tit." 

4 1 Cor. xiv. 40. 5 As in Acts xiv. 23. 



460 THE EPISCOPAL SUCCESSION UNCERTAIN. 

erator. There may have been instances in which a stated 
president was chosen, and yet it is remarkable that not even 
one such case can be clearly established by the evidence of 
contemporary documents. James, called the Lord's brother, 
seems to have possessed great weight of character and much 
influence ; it is not improbable that at one time he always 
acted, when present, as chairman of the mother presbytery ; 
and, accordingly, the writers of succeeding ages have described 
him as the first bishop of the Jewish metropolis; 1 but so 
little consequence was originally attached to the office of 
moderator, 2 that, in as far as the New Testament is concerned, 
the situation held by this distinguished man can be inferred 
only from some very obscure and doubtful intimations. 3 v In 
Rome, and elsewhere, the primitive elders at first, perhaps, 
filled the chair alternately. 4 Hence the so-called episcopal 
succession is most uncertain and confused at the very time 
when it should be sustained by] evidence the most decisive 
and perspicuous. The lists of bishops, commencing with the 
ministry of the apostles, and extending over the latter half of 
the first century, are little better than a mass of contradic- 
tions. The compilers set down, almost at random, the names 
of some distinguished men whom they found connected with 
the different churches, and thus the discrepancies are nearly 
as numerous as the catalogues. 5 

1 The extreme anxiety of Eusebius to give currency to this legend is ap- 
parent from his frequent repetitions of it. See his " Hist.'' ii. 23, iii. 5, iii. 
7, iv. 5, vii. 19. 

2 1 make no apology for employing a word which even the Benedictine 
Editor of Origen has adopted. Thus he speaks of the " senatores et mod- 
eratores ecclesiae Dei." — Contra Celsum, iii. 30, Opera, i. 466. 

3 Such as Acts xxi. 18 ; Gal. ii. 12. 

4 The last surviving elder ordained by the apostles was perhaps the 
first constant moderator. His position gave him a peculiar claim to prece- 
dence. 

5 " At Antioch some, as Origen and Eusebius, make Ignatius to succeed 
Peter. Jerome makes him the third bishop, and placeth Evodius before 
him. Others, therefore, to solve that, make them contemporary bishops ; 

the one, of the Church of the Jews ; the other, of the Gentiles 

Come we to Rome, and here the succession is as muddy as the Tiber itself; 
for here Tertullian, Rufinus, and several others, place Clement next to 



THE SENIOR PRESBYTER THE CHAIRMAN. 46 1 

But when Clement dictated the Epistle to the Corinthians 
most of the elders, ordained by the apostles or evangelists 
about the middle of the first century, had finished their 
career ; and there is little reason to doubt that this eminent 
minister was then the father of the 'Roman presbytery. The 
superscription of the letter to the Philippians supplies direct 
proof that, at the time when it was written, Polycarp likewise 
stood at the head of the presbytery of Smyrna. 1 Other cir- 
cumstances indicate that the senior presbyter now began to 
be regarded as the stated president of the eldership. Hilary, 
one of the best commentators of the ancient Church, 2 bears 
explicit testimony to the existence of such an arrangement. 
"At first," says he, "presbyters were called bishops, so that 
when the one (who was called bishop) passed away, the next 
in order took his place." 3 " Though every bishop is a pres- 
byter, every presbyter is not a bishop, for he is bishop who is 
first among the presbyters." 4 As soon as the regulation rec- 
ognizing the claims of seniority was proposed, its advocates 
were prepared to recommend it by arguments which possessed 
at least considerable plausibility. The Scriptures frequently 

Peter. Irenasus and Eusebius set Anacletus before him ; Epiphanius and 
Optatus both Anacletus and Cletus ; Augustinus and Damasus, with others, 
make Anacletus, Cletus, and Linus all to precede him. What way shall 
we find to extricate ourselves out of this labyrinth ? " — Stillingfleet' s Ireni- 
cum, part ii., ch. 7, p. 321. 

1 " Polycarp, and the elders who are with him, to the Church of God 
which is at Philippi." 

2 A Roman deacon of the fourth century. His works are commonly ap- 
pended to those of Ambrose. 

3 "Primum presbyteri episcopi appellabantur, ut, recedente uno, sequens 
ei succederet." — Comment, in Eph. iv. 

4 " Ut omnis episcopus presbyter sit, non omnis presbyter episcopus ; hie 
enim episcopus est, qui inter presbyteros primus est." — Comment, in 1 Tim. 
iii. According to a learned writer this arrangement extended farther. 
" Ita, uti videtur, comparatum fuit, ut defuncto presbytero, primus ordine 
diaconus locum occuparet ultimum presbyterorum, novusque in locum no- 
vissimum substitueretur diaconus ; decedente vero episcopo, primus ordine 
presbyter in ejus locum sufficeretur, et primus in ordine diaconorum novissi- 
mam presbyterii sedem capesseret." — Thomtx Brunonis Judicium de auc- 
tore Can. et Const, quce apost. dicuntur. Cotelerius, ii., Ap., p. 179. 



462 THE SENIOR PRESBYTER THE CHAIRMAN. 

inculcate respect for age, and when the apostle says, " Like- 
wise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder," ' he seems, 
from the connection in which the words occur, to refer specially 
to the deportment of junior ministers. 2 In the lists of. the 
Twelve to be found in the New Testament the name of Peter 
stands first ; 3 and if, as is believed, he was more advanced in 
years than any of his brethren, 4 it is easy to understand why 
this precedence has been given to him ; for in all likelihood, he 
usually acted as president of the apostolic presbytery. Even 
the construction of corporate bodies in the Roman Empire 
suggested the arrangement ; for it is well known that, in the 
senates of the cities out of Italy, the oldest decurion, under 
the title principalis, acted as president. 6 Did we, therefore, 
even want the direct evidence already quoted, we might have 
inferred, on other grounds, that, at an early date, the senior 
member generally presided wherever an eldership was erected. 
As a point of such interest relating to the constitution of 
the ancient Church should be carefully elucidated, it may be 
necessary to fortify the statement of Hilary by some addition- 
al evidence. This candid and judicious commentator did not 
venture, without due authority, to describe the original order 
of succession in the presidential chair ; and he had access to 
sources of information which have long ceased to be available ; 
but the credit of the fact for which he vouches does not rest 
upon the unsustained support of his solitary attestation. 
Whilst his averment is recommended by internal marks of 
probability, and countenanced by several scriptural intima- 

1 1 Pet. v. 5. It is a curious and striking fact, arguing strongly in favor 
of the antiquity of their Church polity, that among the Vaudois Barbs of 
old the claims of seniority were distinctly acknowledged. The following 
rule of discipline is taken from one of their ancient MSS. : " He that is re- 
ceived the last (into the ministry by imposition of hands) ought to do noth- 
ing without the permission of him that was received before him." — More- 
land, History of the Evang. Ch. of the Valleys of Piedmont, p. 74. 

2 He is speaking immediately before of presbyters. See 1 Pet. v. 1-4. 

3 Matt. x. 2, " The first, Simon, who is called Peter." Mark iii. 16 ; 
Luke vi. 14; Acts i. 13. 

4 Jerome in " Jovin." i. 14. 

5 Savigny's " History of the Roman Law," by Cathcart, i. pp. 62, 63, 75. 



THE SENIOR PRESBYTER THE CHAIRMAN. 463 

tions, it is also corroborated by a large amount of varied and 
independent testimony. We shall now exhibit some of the 
most striking portions of the confirmatory proof. 

I. The language applied in ancient documents to the prim- 
itive presidents of the Churches illustrates the accuracy of this 
venerable commentator. In one of the earliest extant notices 
of these ecclesiastical functionaries, a bishop is designated 
" the old man." 1 The age of the individual who is thus dis- 
tinguished was not a matter of accident ; for each of his 
brethren in the same position, all over the Church, was called 
"father" 2 on the ground of his seniority. The official title 
" Pope" which has the same meaning, had also the same 
origin. It was given at first to every president of the elder- 
ship, because he was, in point of fact, the father, or senior 
member, of the judicatory. It soon ceased to convey this 
meaning, but it still remained as a memorial of the primitive 
regimen. 

II. It is a remarkable fact that in none of the great sees before 
the close of the second century, do we find any trace of the 
existence of a young, or even of a middle-aged bishop. When Ig- 
natius of Antioch was martyred, he was verging on fourscore • 
Polycarp of Smyrna finished his career at the age of eighty- 
six ; Pothinus of Lyons fell a victim to persecution when he 
was upwards of ninety ; 3 Narcissus of Jerusalem was at least 
that age when he was first placed in the presidential chair ; 4 
one of his predecessors, named Justus, is said to have been one 
hundred and ten when he reached the same dignity; 6 and 

1 Euseb. iii. 23. 6 Trpsa^vr^g. 

- In Africa the senior bishop or metropolitan was called father. See 
Bingham, i. 200. In the second century we find the name given to the 
Roman bishop. See Routh's " Reliquiae," i. 287. According to Eutychius, 
his predecessor in the see of Alexandria in the early part of the third ceptury 
was called " Baba (Papa), that is, grandfather." Polycarp, in the account 
of his martyrdom, is called by the multitude "the father of the Christians." 
— Euseb. iv. 15. 

3 Euseb. v. 1. 

4 He was one hundred and sixteen years of age in A.D. 212 (Euseb. vi. 11), 
so that in a.d. 196, or about the time of the Palestinian Synod at which he 
presided (Euseb. v. 23), he was a century old. 

5 Etheridge's " Syrian Churches," pp. 9, 10. 



464 THE ANCIENT CHURCH OF JERUSALEM. 

Simeon of Jerusalem died when he had nearly completed the 
patriarchal age of one hundred and twenty. As an individual 
might become a member of the presbytery when comparatively 
young, 1 such extraordinary longevity among the bishops of 
the second century can be best explained by accepting the 
testimony of Hilary. 

III. The number of bishops found within a short period in 
the same see has long presented a difficulty to many students 
of ecclesiastical history. Thus, at Rome in the first forty 
years of the second century there were five or six bishops, 3 
and yet only one of them suffered martyrdom. Within 
twelve or fifteen years after the death of Polycarp, there were 
several bishops in Smyrna. 3 But the Church of Jerusalem 
furnishes the most wonderful example of this quick succession 
of episcopal dignitaries. Simeon, one of the relatives of our 
Lord, is said to have become the presiding pastor after the 
destruction of the city by Titus, and was martyred about the 
close of the reign of Trajan, or in A.D. 116; and yet,.according 
to the testimony of Eusebius, 4 no less than thirteen bishops in 
succession occupied his place before the end of the year A.D. 
134. He is said to have been set at the head of the Church 
when above threescore and ten ; 6 and dying, as already 
stated, at the extreme age of one hundred and twenty, he left 
behind him a considerable staff of very aged elders. These 

1 See 1 Tim. iv. 12. 

* That is, Anacletus, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, and Hy- 
ginus ; but some consider Anacletus the same as Cletus, who is supposed 
to have died before Clement. 

3 Euseb. iv. 14. Pearson has noticed this fact, and has endeavored to 
erect upon it an argument against the current chronology. See his " Minor 
Works," ii. 527. The names of the three bishops of Smyrna next after 
Polycarp were Thraseas, Paparius, and Camerius. At least two of these 
had passed away a considerable time before the Paschal controversy. See 
Gres well's " Dissertations," iv., part ii., p. 600, note. 

4 " Hist.," iv., 5. 

5 According to Eusebius his appointment took place after the destruction 
of Jerusalem, or about A.D. 71. He was, therefore, at the head of the 
Church forty-five years, as his martyrdom occurred in A.D. 116. According 
to this reckoning he was in his seventy-fifth year when made president. 



THE ANCIENT CHURCH OF JERUSALEM. 465 

became presidents in the order of their seniority ; and as they 
passed rapidly away, we may thus account for the extraordi- 
nary number of the early chief pastors of the ancient capital 
of Palestine. 1 

At this time, or about A.D. 135, the original Christian 
Church of Jerusalem was virtually dissolved. The Jews had 
grievously provoked Hadrian by their revolt under the im- 
postor Barchochebas ; and the Emperor, in consequence, re- 
solved to exclude the entire race from the precincts of the 
holy city. The faithful Hebrews, who had hitherto worshipped 
there under the ministry of Simeon and his successors, still 
observed the Mosaic law, and were consequently treated as 
Jews, so that they were now obliged to break up their associ- 
ation, and remove to other districts. A Christian Church, 
composed chiefly of Gentile converts, was soon afterward es- 
tablished in the same place ; and the new society elected an 
individual, named Marcus, as their bishop, or presiding elder. 
Marcus was, probably, in the decline of life when he was 
placed at the head of the community ; and on his demise, 3 as 
well as long afterward, the old rule of succession was observed. 
During the sixty years immediately after his appointment, 
there were fifteen bishops at Jerusalem 3 — a fact which indi- 
cates that, on the occurrence of a vacancy, the senior elder 
still continued to be advanced to the episcopal chair. This 
conclusion is remarkably corroborated by the circumstance 
that Narcissus, who was bishop of the ancient capital of Judea 
at the end of these sixty years, was, as has been already men- 

1 This explanation of the matter approximates to that given by Tillemont. 
" Cela peut estre venu de ce qu'on les choisissoit entre les plus agez du 
Clerge pour les faire Evesques : car on ne voit pas qu'ils ayent este plus 
persecutez que d'autres." — Me?7z. pour servir a VHistoire Eccl'esiastique, 
torn, ii., part ii., p. 40. Eusebius (iii. 32) states that at the time of the death 
of Simeon there were still living a number of very old persons who were 
relatives of our Lord. Some of these were, probably, elders in the Church 
of Jerusalem. 

2 He is said in the " Chronicon " of Eusebius to have presided sixteen 
years. 

3 Euseb., v. 12. 

30 



466 THE ANCIENT CHURCH OF JERUSALEM. 

tioned, upwards of fourscore and ten when he obtained his ec- 
clesiastical promotion. 

The episcopal roll of Jerusalem has no recorded parallel in 
the annals of the Christian ministry, for there were no less 
than twenty-eight bishops in the holy city in a period of eighty 
years. Even the Popes have never followed each other with 
such rapidity. The Roman Prelate, when elevated to St. 
Peter's chair, has almost invariably been far advanced in years, 
and the instances are not a few in which Pontiffs have fallen 
victims to poison or to open violence ; and yet their history, 
even in the worst of times, exhibits nothing equal to the fre- 
quency of the successions indicated by this ancient episcopal 
registry. 1 It attests that there were more bishops in Jerusa- 
lem in the second century than there have been Archbishops 
of Canterbury for the last four hundred years ! 2 Such facts 
demonstrate that those who then stood at the head of the 
mother Church of Christendom reached their position by 
means of some order of succession very different .from that 
which is now established. Hilary furnishes at once a simple 
and an adequate explanation. The senior minister was the 
president, or bishop ; and as, when placed in the episcopal 
chair, he had already reached old age, it was not to be expected 
that he could long retain a situation which required some ex- 
ertion and involved much anxiety. Hence the startling 
amount of episcopal mortality. 

As the Church of Jerusalem was virtually founded by our 
Lord himself, it could lay claim to a higher antiquity than 
any other Christian community in existence ; and it long con- 
tinued to be regarded by the disciples all over the Empire 

1 In the tenth century, the darStest and most revolting period in the his- 
tory of the Popedom, there were twenty-four bishops of Rome. Some of 
these reigned only a few days ; at least one of them was strangled ; several 
of them died in prison ; and several others were driven from the see or de- 
posed. There have been only twenty-four Popes in the last two hundred 
and fifty years. 

2 There were only twenty-eight Archbishops of Canterbury between 1454 
and 1859. 



THE ANCIENT CHURCH OF JERUSALEM. 467 

with peculiar interest and veneration. 1 When re-established 
about the close of the reign of Hadrian, it was properly a new 
society ; but it still enjoyed the prestige of ancient associa- 
tions. Its history has, therefore, been investigated by Euse- 
bius with special care ; he tells us that he derived a portion of 
his information from its own archives; 2 and, though he enters 
into details respecting very few of the early Churches, he 
notices it with unusual frequency, and gives an accredited list 
of the names of its successive chief pastors. 3 About this period 
it was considered a model which other Christian societies of 
less note should imitate. It is, therefore, all the more im- 
portant if we are able to ascertain its constitution, as we are 
thus prepared to speak with a measure of confidence respect- 
ing the form of ecclesiastical government which prevailed 
throughout the second century. The facts already stated, 
when coupled with the positive affirmation of the Roman 
Hilary, place the solution of the question, as nearly as pos- 
sible, on the basis of demonstration ; for, if we reject the con- 
clusion that, during a hundred years after the death of the 
Apostle John, the senior member of the presbytery of Jeru- 
salem was the president or moderator, we in vain attempt to 
explain, upon any sound statistical principles, how so many 
bishops passed away in succession within so limited periods, 
and how, at several points along the line, and exactly where 
they were to be expected, 4 we find individuals in occupation 
of the chair who had attained to extreme longevity. 

IV. The statement of Hilary illustrates the peculiar cogency 
of the argumentation employed by the defenders of the faith 
who flourished about the close of the second century. This 
century was pre-eminently the age of heresies, and the dis- 
seminators of error were most extravagant and unscrupulous 
in their assertions. The heresiarchs, among other things, 
affirmed that the inspired heralds of the Gospel had not com- 

1 In the middle of the third century we find Firmilian appealing to it as 
a witness against the Church of Rome. Cyprian, Epist. lxxv., Opera, p. 303. 

2 " Hist.," vi. 20. 3 " Hist." iv. 5 ; v. 12. 

4 Such as, after the death of the aged Simeon, when Justus, at the age of 
fivescore and ten, was advanced to the presidential chair. 



• 



468 GNOSTIC CREDENTIALS APOCRYPHAL. 

mitted their whole system to written records ; that they had 
intrusted certain higher revelations only to select or perfect 
disciples ; and that the doctrine of /Eons, which they so assid- 
uously promulgated, was derived from this hidden treasure of 
ecclesiastical tradition. 1 To such assertions the champions of 
orthodoxy were prepared to furnish a triumphant reply, for 
they could show that the Gnostic system was inconsistent 
with Scripture, and that its credentials, said to be derived 
from tradition, were utterly apocryphal. They appealed, in 
proof of its falsehood, to the tradition which had come down 
to themselves from the apostles, and which was still preserved 
in the Churches " through the successions of the elders." 2 
They could farther refer to those who stood at the head of 
their respective presbyteries as the witnesses most competent 
to give evidence. " We are able," says Irenaeus, " to enumer- 
ate those whom the apostles established as bishops in the 
Churches, 3 together with their successors down to our own 
times, who neither taught any such doctrine as these men rave 
about, nor had any knowledge of it. For if the apostles had 
been acquainted with recondite mysteries which they were in 
the habit of teaching to the perfect disciples apart and with- 
out the knowledge of the rest, they would by all means have 
communicated them to those to whom they intrusted the care 
of the Church itself, since they wished that those whom they 
left behind them as their successors, and to whom they gave 
their own place of authority, should be quite perfect and irre- 
proachable in all things." 4 

Had the succession to the episcopal chair been regulated 
by the arrangements of modern times, there would have been 

1 Irenaeus, iii. 2. Tertullian, " De Praescrip. Haeret.," § 25. 

2 " Ad earn iterum traditionem, quae est ab apostolis, quae per successiones 
presbyterorum in ecclesiis custoditur, provocamus eos." — Irenccus, iii. 2. 

3 Irenaeus here speaks in the language of his own times, and refers to the 
presidents, or senior ministers, of the presbyteries. In like manner Hilary 
says that the change in the mode of appointing the president of the pres- 
bytery was made by the decision of many priests (multorum sacerdotum 
judicio), though the title priest was not given to a Christian minister when 
the alteration was originally proposed. 

4 Irenaeus, iii. 3. 



THE BISHOPS ATTEST THE TRADITIONS. 469 

little weight in the reasoning of Irenatus. The declaration of 
the bishop respecting the tradition of the Church over which 
he happened to preside could have possessed no special value. 
But it was otherwise in the days of this pastor of Lyons. The 
bishop was generally one of the oldest members of the com- 
munity with which he was connected, and had been longer 
conversant with its ecclesiastical affairs than any other minis- 
ter. His testimony to its traditions was, therefore, of the 
highest importance. In a few of the great Churches, as we 
have elsewhere shown, 1 the senior elder no longer succeeded, 
as a matter of course, to the episcopate ; but age continued to 
be universally regarded as an indispensable qualification for 
the office, 2 and, when Irenseus wrote, the law of seniority was 
still generally maintained. It was, therefore, with marked 
propriety that he appealed to the evidence of the bishops ; as 
they, from their position, were most competent to expose the 
falsehood of the fables of Gnosticism. 

V. It is well known that, in some of the most ancient coun- 
cils of which we have any record, the senior bishop officiated 
as moderator ; 3 and, long after age had ceased to determine 
the succession to the episcopal chair, the recognition of its 
claims, under various forms, may be traced in ecclesiastical 
history. In Spain, so late as the fourth century, the senior 
chief pastor acted as president when the bishops and presby- 
ters assembled for deliberation. 4 In Africa the same rule was 
observed until the Church of that country was overwhelmed 
by the northern barbarians. In Mauritania and Numidia, 
even in the fifth century, the senior bishop of the province, 
whoever he might be, was acknowledged as metropolitan. 6 
In the usages of a still later age we discover vestiges of the 

1 Period ii., sec. i., chap. iv. ; and Period ii., sec. iii., chap. vii. 

2 According to a very ancient canon, no one under fifty years of age could 
be made a bishop. See Bunsen's " Hippolytus," iii. 56. Even in the time 
of Cyprian much stress was still laid upon age. See Cyprian, Epist. Iii., p. 
156. 

3 See Period ii., sec. iii., chap xi. See also Bingham, i. 198. 

4 Miinter's " Primordia Ecclesias Africanae," p. 49. See also Bingham, 

vi. 377-379- 

5 Bingham, i. 201. 



470 THE BISHOP GUIDED BY THE ELDERS. 

ancient regulation, for the bishops sat, in the order of their 
seniority, in the provincial synods. 1 Still farther, where the 
bishop of the chief city of the province was the stated metro- 
politan, the ecclesiastical law still retained remembrances of 
the primitive polity ; as, when this dignitary died, the senior 
bishop of the district performed his functions until a successor 
was regularly appointed. 2 

Though the senior presbyter presided in the meetings of 
his brethren, and was soon known by the name of bishop, he 
originally possessed no superior authority. He held his place 
for life, but as he was sinking under the weight of years when 
he succeeded to it, he could not venture to anticipate an ex- 
tended career of official distinction. In all matters relating 
either to discipline, or the general interests of the brother- 
hood, he was expected to carry out the decisions of the elder- 
ship, so that, under his presidential rule, the Church was still 
substantially governed by " the common council of the pres- 
byters." 

The allegation that presbyterial government existed in all 
its integrity toward the end of the second century does not 
rest on the foundation of obscure intimations or doubtful in- 
ferences. It can be established by direct and conclusive tes- 
timony. Evidence has already been adduced to show that the 
senior presbyter of Smyrna continued to preside until the 
days of Irenaeus, and there is also documentary proof that he 
possessed no autocratical authority. The supreme power was 
still vested in the council of the elders. This point is attested 
by Hippolytus, who was then just entering on his ecclesiastical 
career, and who, in one of his works, a fragment of which has 
been preserved, describes the manner in which the rulers of 
the Church dealt with the heretic Noetus. The transaction 
occurred about A.D. 190. 3 " There are certain others," says 

1 Binius, i. 5. Fourth Council of Toledo, canon 4. 

- Bingham, i. 204. 

3 Bunsen dates it about A.D. 200. "Hippolytus and his Age," p. 114. 
The recently-discovered treatise of Hippolytus against all heresies shows 
that Noetus appeared much earlier than most modern ecclesiastical histo- 
rians have reckoned. 






THE CHURCH GOVERNED BY THE ELDERS. 47 1 

Hippolytus, " who introduce clandestinely a strange doctrine, 
being disciples of one Noetus, who was by birth a Smyrnean, 
and lived not long ago. This man, being puffed up, was led 
to forget himself, being elated by the vain fancy of a strange 
spirit. He said that Christ is himself the Father, and that the 
Father himself had been born, and had suffered and died. 
.... When the blessed presbyters heard these things, they 
summoned him and examined him before the Church. He, how- 
ever, denied, saying at first that such were not his sentiments. 
But afterward, when he had intrigued with some, and had 
found persons to join him in his error, he took courage, and 
at length resolved to stand by his dogma. The blessed presby- 
ters again summoned him, and administered a rebuke. But he 
withstood them, saying, ' Why, what evil am I doing in glorify- 
ing Christ ? ' To whom the presbyters replied : i We also truly 
acknowledge one God ; we acknowledge Christ ; we acknowl- 
edge that the Son suffered as He did suffer, and that He died 
as He did die, and that He rose again the third day, and that 
He is at the right hand of the Father, and that He is coming 
to judge the quick and the dead ; and we declare those things 
which we have been taught.' Then they rebuked him, and cast 
him out of the Church." x 

About the time to which these words refer a change was 
made in the ecclesiastical constitution. The senior minister 
ceased to preside over the eldership ; and the Church was no 
longer governed, as heretofore, by the " blessed presbyters.'* 
The synods which were held all over the Church for the sup- 
pression of the Montanist agitation, and in connection with 
the Paschal controversy, 3 adopted a modified episcopacy. As 
parties already in the presidential chair were permitted to 

1 Routh, " Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Opuscula," torn, i., pp. 49, 50 
Oxon, 1858. This extract proves that the Church of Smyrna continued 
under presbyterial government long after the time of Polycarp. Other 
Churches about this time were in the same position. See Eusebius, v. 16. 

2 During the Paschal controversy the Churches of Jerusalem, Caesarea, 
and others, sided with Rome, and then adopted her ecclesiastical regimen. 
It had been generally adopted in Asia Minor during the Montanist agita- 
tion. 



472 CHANGE IN THE CHURCH CONSTITUTION. 

hold office during life, this change was not accomplished in- 
stantaneously ; but various circumstances concur to prove 
that it took place about the period now indicated. The fol- 
lowing reasons, among others, may be adduced in support of 
this view of the history of the ecclesiastical revolution. 

I. The Montanists, toward the termination of the second 
century, created much confusion by their extravagant doc- 
trines and their claims to inspiration. These fanatics were in 
the habit of disturbing public worship by uttering their pre- 
tended revelations, and as they were often countenanced by 
individual elders, the best mode of protecting the Church 
from their annoyance soon became a question of grave and 
pressing difficulty. Episcopacy, as shall afterward be shown, 1 
had already been introduced in some great cities, and about 
this time the Churches generally agreed to follow the influen- 
tial example. 8 It was thought that order could be more 
effectually preserved were a single individual armed with in- 
dependent authority. Thus, the system of government by 
presbyters was gradually and silently subverted. 

II. It is well known that the close of the second century is 
a transition period in the history of the Church. A new 
ecclesiastical nomenclature now appeared ; 3 the bishops ac- 
quired increased authority ; and, early in the third century, 
they were chosen in all the chief cities by popular suffrage. ^ 
The alteration mentioned by Hilary was, therefore, the im- 
mediate precursor of other and more vital changes. 

III. Though Eusebius passes over in suspicious silence the 
history of all ecclesiastical innovations, his account of the 
bishops of Jerusalem suggests that the law abolishing the 
claim of seniority came into operation at the close of the 
second century. He classes together the fifteen chief pastors 
who followed each other in the holy city immediately after 
its restoration by Hadrian, 4 and then goes on to give a list of 

1 Chapter vii. of this section. 

* That the Churches in various places were still governed by elders, see 
Euseb. v. 1 6. 

3 The word catholic came now into use. The minister of the Word was 
called a priest, and the communion table an altar. 

4 Euseb. v. 12. 



EUSEBIUS AND THE CHURCH OF CESAREA. 473 

others, their successors, whose pastorates were of the ordi- 
nary duration. He mentions likewise that the sixteenth 
bishop was chosen by election? May we not here distinctly 
recognize the termination of one system, and the commence- 
ment of another? As the sixteenth bishop was appointed 
about A.D. 199, the law had been then only recently enacted. 

IV. Eusebius professes to trace the episcopal succession 
from the days of the apostles in Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, 
and Jerusalem ; and it has often been shown that the accu- 
racy of these four lists is extremely problematical ; but it is 
remarkable that in other Churches the episcopal registry can 
not be carried up higher than the end of the second century. 
The roll of the bishops of Carthage is there discontinued, 2 
and the episcopal registry of Spain there also abruptly termi- 
nates. But the history of the Church of Csesarea affords the 
most extraordinary specimen of this defalcation. Csesarea 
was the civil metropolis of Palestine, and a Christian Church 
existed in it from the days of Paul and Peter. 3 Its bishop, in 
the early part of the fourth century, was the friend of the 
Emperor Constantine and the father of ecclesiastical history. 
Eusebius enjoyed all needful facilities for investigating the 
annals of his own Church ; and yet, strange to say, he com- 
mences its episcopal registry about the close of the second 
century ! 4 What explanation can be given of this awkward 
circumstance ? Had Eusebius taken no notice of any of the 
bishops of his own see, we could appreciate his modesty ; but 
why should he overlook those who flourished before the time 
of Victor of Rome, and then refer to their successors with 
such marked frequency ? 5 May we not infer, either that he 
deemed it inexpedient to proclaim the inconvenient fact that 
the bishops of Csesarea were as numerous as the bishops of 
Jerusalem ; or that he found it impossible to recover the 
names of a multitude of old men who had only a nominal 

1 Euseb. v. 10. The word x £ '-porovlav here employed is indicative of a 
popular choice. See also the " Chronicon " of Eusebius. 

2 Miinter's " Primordia Eccles. Afric," pp. 25, 26. 

8 Acts x. 1, 45-48 ; xxi. 8. 4 " Hist." v. 22. 

5 " Hist." v. 23 ; v. 25 ; vi. 19 ; vi. 23 ; vi. 46 ; vii. 14, etc., etc. 



474 N0 SUDDEN REVOLUTION. 

precedence among their brethren, and who had passed off the 
stage, one after another, in quick succession ? 

V. A statement of Eutychius, who was patriarch of Alex- 
andria in the tenth century, and who has left behind him a 
history of his see from the days of the apostles, supplies a re- 
markable confirmation of the fact that, toward the close of 
the second century, a new policy was inaugurated. Accord- 
ing to this writer there was, with the exception of the occu- 
pant of the episcopal chair of Alexandria, " no bishop in the 
provinces of Egypt " before Demetrius. 1 As Demetrius be- 
came bishop of Alexandria about A.D. 190, Christianity had 
now made extensive progress in the country ; 2 for it had been 
planted there one hundred and fifty years before ; but mean- 
while, with the one exception, the Churches still remained 
under presbyterial government. Demetrius was a prelate of 
great influence and energy ; and, during his long episcopate 
of forty-three years, 3 he succeeded in spreading all over the 
land the system of which he had been at one time the only 
representative. 

It is not, indeed, to be supposed that the whole Church, 
prompted by a sudden and simultaneous impulse, agreed, all 
at once, to change its ecclesiastical arrangements. Another 
polity at first made its appearance in places of commanding 
influence ; and its advocates most assiduously endeavored to 
recommend its claims by appealing to the fruits of experience. 
The Church of Rome took the lead in setting up a mitigated 
form of prelacy ; the Churches of Antioch and Alexandria 
followed ; and, soon afterward, other Christian communities 
of note adopted the example. That this subject may be fairly 
understood, a few chapters must now be employed in tracing 
the rise and progress of the hierarchy. 

1 " Annal." p. 332. See also Stanley's " Eastern Church," p. 113, note. 

2 See Lardner's Works, viii. 99. Edit. London, 1838. 

3 Eusebius, vi. 26. Toward the close of his episcopate Demetrius held 
several synods in Alexandria, at which a considerable number of bishops 
were present. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE RISE OF THE HIERARCHY CONNECTED WITH THE 
SPREAD OF HERESIES. 

EUSEBIUS, already so often quoted, and known so widely 
as the author of the earliest Church history, flourished in the 
former half of the fourth century. This distinguished father 
was a spectator of the most wonderful revolution recorded 
in the annals of the world. He had seen Christianity pro- 
scribed, and its noblest champions cut down by a brutal mar- 
tyrdom ; and he had lived to see a convert to the faith seated 
on the throne of the Caesars, and ministers of the Church 
basking in the sunshine of Imperial bounty. He was himself 
a special favorite with Constantine ; as bishop of Csesarea, the 
chief city of Palestine, he had often access to the presence of 
his sovereign ; and in a work still extant, professing to be a 
Life of the Emperor, he has well-nigh exhausted the language 
of eulogy in his attempts to magnify the virtues of his illus- 
trious patron. 

Eusebius may have been an accomplished courtier, but cer- 
tainly he is not entitled to the praise of a great historian. 
The publication by which he is best known would never have 
acquired such celebrity, had it not been the most ancient 
treatise of the kind in existence. Though it mentions many 
of the ecclesiastical transactions of the second and third cent- 
uries, and supplies a large amount of information which would 
have otherwise been lost, it is a very ill-arranged and unsatis- 
factory performance. Its author does not occupy a high po- 
sition either as a philosophic thinker, a judicious observer, or 
a sound theologian. He makes no attempt to point out the 
germs of error, to illustrate the rise and progress of ecclesi- 

(475) 



476 EUSEBIUS AND JEROME. 

astical changes, or to investigate the circumstances which led 
to the formation of the hierarchy. Even the announcement 
of his Preface, that his purpose is " to record the successions 
of the holy apostles," or in other words, to exhibit some epis- 
copal genealogies, proclaims how much he was mistaken as to 
the topics which should have been noticed most prominently 
in his narrative. 1 It is doubtful whether his history was ex- 
pressly written, either for the illumination of his own age, or 
for the instruction of posterity ; and its appearance, shortly 
after the public recognition of Christianity by the State, 2 is 
fitted to generate a suspicion that it was intended to influence 
the mind of Constantine, and to recommend the episcopal 
order to the consideration of the great proselyte. 

About six or seven years after the publication of this treat- 
ise, a child was born who was destined to attain higher dis- 
tinction, both as a scholar and a writer, than the polished 
Eusebius. This was Jerome — afterward a presbyter of Rome, 
and a father whose productions challenge the foremost rank 
among the memorials of patristic erudition. Toward the 
close of the fourth century he shone the brightest literary star 
in the Church, and even the proud Pope Damasus condescend- 
ed to cultivate his favor. At one time he contemplated the 
composition of a Church history ; 3 and we have reason to re- 
gret that the design was never executed, as his works demon- 
strate that he was in possession of much rare and important 
information for which we search in vain in the pages of the 
bishop of Caesarea. 

y/ No ancient writer has thrown more light on the history 
of the hierarchy than Jerome. His remarks upon the subject 
frequently drop incidentally from his pen, and must be sought 
for up and down throughout his commentaries and epistles ; 

1 His anxiety to exalt the hierarchy is strikingly exhibited in his address 
to Paulinus of Tyre, whom he describes as a " new Aaron or Melchisedek, 
like unto the Son of God." Ecc. Hist. x. 4. 

2 The " Ecclesiastical History " of Eusebius was published shortly after 
Constantine first publicly recognized Christianity. That event took place in 
A.D. 324, and with the same year the history terminates. 

3 " Vita Malchi," Opera, iv., pp. 90, 91. Edit. Paris, 1706. 



JEROME S TESTIMONY. 477 

but he speaks as an individual who was quite familiar with the 
topics he introduces; and, whilst all his statements are con- 
sistent, they are confirmed and illustrated by other witnesses. 
As a presbyter, he was jealous of the honor of his order ; and, 
when in certain moods, he is very well disposed to remind the 
bishops that their superiority to himself was mere matter of 
human arrangement. One of his observations relative to the 
original constitution of the Christian commonwealth has been 
often quoted. " Before that, by the prompting of the devil, 
there were parties in religion, and it was said among the peo- 
ple, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, the 
Churches were governed by the common council of the pres- 
byters. But, after that each one began to reckon those whom 
he baptized as belonging to himself and not to Christ, it was 
DECREED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE WORLD that one elected 
from the presbyters should be set over the rest, that he should 
have the care of the whole Church, that the seeds of schisms 
might be destroyed." 1 

Because Jerome in this place happens to use language which 
occurs in the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, we are 
not to understand him as identifying the date of that letter 
with the origin of prelacy. Such a conclusion would be quite 
at variance with the tenor of this passage. The words, " I am 
of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas," 2 are used by him 
rhetorically ; he was accustomed to repeat them when describ- 
ing schisms or contentions ; and he has employed them on 
one memorable occasion in relation to a controversy of the 

1 " Antequam Diaboli instinctu, studia in religione fierent, et diceretur in 
populis, Ego sum Pauli, ego Apollo, ego autem Cephas, communi presbyter- 
orum consilio ecclesias gubernabantur. Postquam vero unusquisque eos 
quos baptizaverat suos putabat esse, non Christi, in toto orbe decretum est, 
lit unus de presbyteris, electus superponeretur caeteris, ad quern omnis ec- 
clesias cura pertineret, et sckzsmatum semina tollerentur." — Comment, in 
Titum. The language here used bears a strong resemblance to that em- 
ployed by Lactantius long before, when treating of the same subject — 
" Multas hasreses extiterunt, et instinctibus dcemonum populus Dei scissus 
est" — Inst it. Divin., lib. iv„ c. 30. 

2 1 Cor. i. 12. 



478 JEROME'S TESTIMONY. 

fourth century. 1 The divisions among the Corinthians, 
noticed by Paul, were trivial and temporary ; the Church at 
large was not disturbed by them ; but Jerome speaks of a time 
when the whole ecclesiastical community was so agitated that 
it was threatened with dismemberment. The words immedi- 
ately succeeding those which we have quoted clearly show 
that he dated the origin of prelacy after the days of the 
apostles. " Should any one think that the identification of 
bishop and presbyter, the one being a name of age and the 
other of office, is not a doctrine of Scripture, but our own 
opinion, let him refer to the words of the apostle saying to 
the Philippians, ' Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus 
Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, 
with the bishops and deacons, Grace to you and peace,' 2 and so 
forth. Philippi is one city of Macedonia, and truly in one 
city, there can not be, as is thought, more than one bishop ; 
but because, at that time, they called the same parties bishops 
and presbyters, therefore he speaks of bishops as of presbyters 
without making distinction. Still this may seem doubtful to 
some unless confirmed by another testimony. In the Acts of 
the Apostles it is written 3 that when the apostle came to 
Miletus he ' sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the same 
Church,' to whom, then, among other things, he said, ' Take 
heed to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy 
Ghost has made you bishops, 4 to feed the Church of the Lord 

1 " Hie locus vel maxime adversum Haereticos facit qui pacis vinculo dis- 
sipato atque corrupto, putant se tenere Spiritus unitatem ; quum unitas 
Spiritus in pacis vinculo conservetur. Quando enim non idipsum omnes 
loquimur, et alius dicit Ego sum Pauli, Ego Apollo, Ego CephcE, dividimus 
Spiritus unitatem, et earn in partes ac membra discerpimus." — Comment. 
in Ephes., lib. ii., cap. 4. Again we find him saying : " Necnon et dissen- 
siones opera carnis sunt, quum quis nequaquam perfectus, eodem sensu, et 
eadem sententia dicit. Ego sum Pauli, et ego Apollo, et ego Cephce et ego 
Christi. .... Nonnumquam evenit, ut et in expositionibus Scripturarum 
oriatur dissensio. e quibus kczreses quoque quce nunc i?i carnis opere ponun- 
tur, ebulliunt." — Comment, in Epist. ad Galat., cap. 5. 

2 Philip, i. 1, 2. 3 Acts xx. '17, 28. 

4 Our translators, acting under instructions from James I., here render 
the word " overseers." 



JEROME'S TESTIMONY. 479 

which He has purchased with His own blood.' And attend 
specially to this, how, calling the elders of the one city Ephe- 
sus, he afterwards addressed the same as bishops. Whoever 
is prepared to receive that Epistle which is written to the 
Hebrews under the name of Paul, 1 there also the care of the 
Church is divided equally among more than one, since he 
writes to the people, ' Obey them that have the rule over you, 
and submit yourselves, for they are they who watch for your 
souls as those who must give account, that they may not do 
it with grief, since this is profitable for you.' 2 And Peter, 
who received his name from the firmness of his faith, in his 
Epistle speaks, saying, ' The elders, therefore, who are among 
you, I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the suf- 
ferings of Christ, and who am a partaker of His glory which 
shall be revealed, feed that flock of the Lord which is among 
you, not by constraint, but willingly.' 3 We may thus show 
that anciently bishops and presbyters were the same ; but, by 
degrees, THAT THE PLANTS OF DISSENSION MIGHT BE ROOTED 
UP, all care was transferred to one. As, therefore, the presby- 
ters know that, in accordance with the custom of the Church, 
they are subject to him who has been set over them, so the 
bishops should know that they are greater than the presby- 
ters, rather by custom, than by the truth of an arrangement of 
the Lord." 4 v 

1 The Church of Rome, of which Jerome was a presbyter, long hesitated 
to receive the Epistle to the Hebrews. Its opposition to ritualism was, in 
the third and fourth centuries, offensive to the ecclesiastical leaders in the 
Western metropolis. In the first century no such doubts respecting it 
existed among the Roman Christians. See Period i., sec. ii., chap, i., p. 
162. 

2 Heb. xiii. 17. The reading of Jerome, here, as well as in the case ot 
other texts quoted, differs from that of our authorized version. He perhaps 
quoted from memory. 

3 1 Pet. v. 1, 2. 

4 It may suffice to give in the original only the conclusion of this long 
quotation. " Paulatim vero, ut dissensionum plantaria evellerentur, ad 
unum omnem, solicitudinem esse delatam. Sicut ergo presbyteri sciunt se 
ex ecclesias consuetudine ei qui sibi praspositus fuerit esse subjectos ; ita 
episcopi noverint se magis, consuetudine quam dispositionis dominicae veri- 
tate presbyteris esse majores." — Comment, in Tz'tum. 



480 JEROME'S TESTIMONY. 

Jerome here explains himself in language which admits of 
no second interpretation ; for all these proofs, adduced to show 
that the Church was originally under presbyterial government, 
are of a later date than the First Epistle to the Corinthians. 
The Epistle to the Philippians contains internal evidence that 
it was dictated during Paul's first imprisonment at Rome ; the 
Epistle to the Hebrews appeared after his liberation ; and the 
First Epistle of Peter was written in the old age of the apostle 
of the circumcision. Nor is this even the full amount of his 
testimony to the antiquity of the presbyterian polity. On 
another occasion, after mentioning some of the texts which 
have been given, he goes on to make quotations from the 
Second and Third Epistles of John — which are generally dated 
toward the close of the first century ' — and he declares that 
prelacy had not made its appearance when these letters were 
written. Having produced authorities from Paul and Peter, 
he exclaims, " Do the testimonies of such men seem small to 
you ? Let the Evangelical Trumpet, the Son of Thunder, 
whom Jesus loved very much, who drank the streams of doc- 
trine from the bosom of the Saviour, sound in your ears, ' The 
elder, unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in 
the truth '; 2 and, in another epistle, * The elder to the very 
dear Caius, whom I love in the truth.' 3 But what was done 
afterwards, when one was elected who was set over the rest, 
was for a cure of schism ; lest every one, insisting upon his own 
will, should rend the Church of God." 4 

We have already seen & that extant documents, written 
about the close of the first century, and the middle of the 
second, bear similar testimony as to the original constitution 
of the Church. The " Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians" 

1 Thus Dr. Burton says that " the Epistles of St. John were composed in 
the latter part of Domitian's reign." — Lectures, i. 382. Jerome was evi- 
dently of this opinion, for he says that, in his First Epistle, he refers to 
Cerinthus and Ebion, who appeared toward the close of the first century. 
"Jam tunc haereticorum semina pullularent Cerinthi, Ebionis, et caeterorum 
qui negant Christum in carne venisse, quos et ipse in Epistola sua Anti- 
christos vocat." — Proleg. in Comment, super Matt/iceum. 

2 2 John 1. 3 3 John 1. 4 Epist. ci. " Ad Evangelum." 
6 Period ii., sec iii., chap, v., p. 455. 



HERESIES THREATEN TO DIVIDE THE CHURCH. 48 1 

can not be dated earlier than the termination of the reign of 
Domitian, for it refers to a recent persecution, 1 it describes the 
community to which it is addressed as " most ancient," it de- 
clares that others occupied the places of those who had been 
ordained by the apostles, and it states that this second gener- 
ation of ministers had been long in possession of their ecclesi- 
astical charges. 2 Candid writers, of almost all parties, ac- 
knowledge that this letter distinctly recognizes the existence 
of government by presbyters. 3 The evidence of the letter of 
Polycarp 4 is not less explicit. Jerome, therefore, did not 
speak without authority when he affirmed that prelacy was 
established after the days of the apostles, and as an antidote 
against schism. 

The Apostolic Church was comparatively free from divis- 
ions ; and, whilst the inspired heralds of the Gospel lived, it 
could not be said that " there were parties in religion." The 
heretics were never able to organize any formidable combina- 
tions ; they were inconsiderable in point of numbers ; and, 
though not wanting in activity, those to whom our Lord had 
personally intrusted the publication of His Word, were ready 

1 Sec 1. 

2 The reader may find the quotations in the preceding chapter, pp. 456, 

457- 

8 Thus Milner says that " so far as one may judge by Clement's Epistle," 
the Church of Corinth, when the letter was written, had Church governors 
"only of two ranks" presbyters and deacons. — Hist, of the Church, cent, 
ii., chap. 1. Bishop Lightfoot bears the same testimony. 

4 As the letter supplies no trace whatever of the existence of a bishop in 
the Church to which it is addressed, Pearson is sadly puzzled by its testi- 
mony, and gravely advances the supposition that the bishop of Phzlippi 
must have been dead when Polycarp wrote ! " Vindiciae Ignatianas," pars 
ii., cap. 13. Rothe is equally perplexed by the Epistle of Clement. He 
says that, " in the whole Epistle there is never any reference to a bishop of 
the Corinthian community," and he admits that, when the letter was 
written, "the Corinthian community had no bishop at all "; but, to support 
his favorite theory, he contends, like Pearson, that the bishop of Corinth 
must also have been dead ! " Die Anfange der christlichen Kirche," pp. 
403, 404. Strange that the bishop of Corinth and the bishop of Philippi 
both were dead at the only time when their existence was of any historical 
value, and that no reference is made either to them or their successors ! 

31 



482 HERESIES THREATEN TO DIVIDE THE CHURCH. 

to oppose them, so that all their efforts were effectually 
checked or defeated. The most ancient writers acknowledge 
that, during the early part of the second century, the same 
state of things continued. According to Hegesippus, who 
outlived Polycarp fifteen or twenty years, 1 the Church con- 
tinued till the death of Simeon of Jerusalem, in A.D. 116, 2 " as 
a pure and uncorrupted virgin." " If there were any at all," 
says he, " who attempted to pervert the right standard of sav- 
ing doctrine, they were yet skulking in dark retreats ; but 
when the sacred company of the apostles had, in various ways, 
finished their career, AND THE GENERATION OF THOSE WHO 
HAD BEEN PRIVILEGED TO HEAR THEIR INSPIRED WISDOM 
HAD PASSED AWAY, then at length the fraud of false teachers 
produced a confederacy of impious errors." 3 The date of the 
appearance of these parties is also established by the testi- 
mony of Celsus, who lived in the time of the Antonines, and 
who was one of the most formidable of the early antagonists 
of Christianity. This writer informs us that, though, in the 
beginning, the disciples were agreed in sentiment, they be- 
came, in his days, when " spread out into a multitude, divided 
and distracted, each aiming to give stability to his own fac- 
tion." 4 

The statements of Hegesippus and Celsus are substantiated 
by a host of additional witnesses. Justin Martyr, 5 Irenaeus, 8 
Clemens Alexandrinus, 7 Cyprian, 8 and others, all concur in rep- 

1 See Euseb. iv., c. II. 2 Euseb. iii. 32, and iv. 22. 

3 Euseb. iii. 32. Hegesippus, as quoted by Eusebius (iv. 22), speaks of 
a certain Thebuthis, who began secretly to corrupt the Christian doctrine 
" on account of his not having been made a bishop," apparently referring 
to the time when Simeon was appointed to preside over the Church of 
Jerusalem. A similar story is told of Valentine. But the statement of 
Hegesippus is vague, and throughout the whole of the first century the 
terms bishop and presbyter were used interchangeably. 

4 Origen, " Contra Celsum," iii. § 10, Opera, i. 453, 454. 
6 " Dialogue with Trypho," Opera, p. 253. 

6 " Contra Hasres." i. 27, §1. 7 " Strom." p. 764. 

8 Epist. lxxiv., Opera, p. 293. The ancient writers speak of all the early 
schismatics as heretics. Thus Novatian, though sound in the faith, is so 
described. Cyprian, Epist. Ixxvi., p. 315. When, therefore, Jerome speaks 



HERESIES THREATEN TO DIVIDE THE CHURCH. 483 

resenting the close of the reign of Hadrian, or the beginning 
of the reign of Antoninus Pius, as the period when heresies 
burst forth, like a flood, upon the Church. The extant eccle- 
siastical writings of the succeeding century are occupied chiefly 
with their refutation. No wonder that the best champions of 
the faith were embarrassed and alarmed. They had hitherto 
been accustomed to boast that Christianity was the cement 
which could unite all mankind, and they had pointed triumph- 
antly to its influence in bringing together the Jew and the 
Gentile, the Greek and the barbarian, the master and the slave, 
the learned and the illiterate. They had looked forward with 
high expectation to the days of its complete ascendency, when, 
under its gentle sway, all nations would exhibit the spectacle 
of one great and happy brotherhood. How, then, must they 
have been chagrined by the rise and spread of heresies ! They 
saw the Church itself converted into a great battle-field, and 
every man's hand turned against his fellow. In almost all the 
populous cities of the Empire, as if on a concerted signal, 
the errorists commenced their discussions. The Churches of 
Lyons, 1 of Rome, of Corinth, of Athens, of Ephesus, of Anti- 
och, and of Alexandria, resounded with the din of theological 
controversy. Nor were the heresiarchs men whom their 
opponents could afford to despise. In point of genius and of 
literary resources, many of them were fully equal to the most 
accomplished of their adversaries. Their zeal was unwearied, 
and their tact most perplexing. Mixing the popular elements 
of the current philosophy with a few of the facts and doc 
trines of the Gospel, they produced a compound by which 
many were deceived. How did the friends of the Church pro- 
of the early schismatics, he obviously refers to the heretics. Irenasus says 
of them, " Scmdunt et separant unitatem ecclesias." — Lib. iv., c. xxvi., § 2. 
In like manner Cyprian represents "heresies and schisms " as making their 
appearance after the apostolic age, and as inseparably connected. " Cum 
ha?reses et schismata postmodum nata sint, dum conventicula sibi diversa 
constituunt." — De Unitate Eccles., Opera, p. 400. 

1 The existence of heresy in Gaul in the second century is established by 
the fact that Irenseus spent so much time in its refutation. Had he not 
been annoyed by it, he never would have thought of writing his treatise 
" Contra Haereses." 



484 " PARITY BREEDETH CONFUSION." 

ceed to grapple with these difficulties ? They, no doubt, did 
their utmost to meet the errorists in argument, and to show- 
that their theories were miserable perversions of Christianity. 
But they did not confine themselves to the use of weapons 
drawn from their own heavenly armory. Not a few presby- 
ters were themselves tainted with the new opinions ; some of 
them were even ringleaders of the heretics ; ! and, in an evil 
hour, the dominant party resolved to change the constitution 
of the Church, and to try to put down disturbance by means 
of a new ecclesiastical organization. Believing, with many in 
modern times, that " parity breedeth confusion," and expect- 
ing, as Jerome has expressed it, "that the seeds of schisms 
might be destroyed," they sought to invigorate their adminis- 
tration by investing the presiding elder with authority over 
the rest of his brethren. The senior presbyters, the last sur- 
vivors of a better age, were all sound in the faith ; and, as they 
were still at the head of the Churches in the great cities, it 
was thought that, with enlarged prerogatives, they could the 
better confront the dangers of their position. The principle 
that, whoever would not submit to the bishop must be cast 
out of the Church, was accordingly adopted ; and the new 
system was expected in due time to restore peace to the spir- 
itual commonwealth. 

' At the same period arrangements were made in some places 
for changing the mode of advancement to the presidential 
chair, so that, in no case, an elder suspected of error could 
have a chance of promotion. 2 An immense majority of the 
presbyters were yet orthodox ; and by being permitted to de- 
part, as often as they pleased, from the ancient order of suc- 
cession, and to nominate any of themselves to the episcopate, 
they could always secure the appointment of an individual 
representing their own sentiments. In some of the larger 

1 Valentine himself seems to have been a presbyter. He at one time ex- 
pected to be made bishop. 

2 Such is the statement of Hilary : " Immutata est ratio, prospiciente 
concilio, lit non ordo sed meritum crearet episcopum, multorum sacerdo- 
tum judicio constitutum, ne indignus temere usurparet, et esset multis 
scandalum." — Comment, in Eph. iv. 



JEROME NOT INCONSISTENT. 485 

Churches, where their number was considerable, they usually 
selected three or four candidates ; and then permitted the lot 
to make the ultimate decision. 1 But the ecclesiastical revolu- 
tion could not stop here. Jealousy quickly appeared among 
the presbyters ; and, during the excitement of elections, the 
more popular candidates were not willing to limit the voting 
to the presbytery. The people chose their presbyters and 
deacons, and now that the office of moderator possessed sub- 
stantial power, and differed so much from what it was origi- 
nally, why should not all the members of the Church be allowed 
to exercise their legitimate influence? Such a claim could 
not be well resisted. Thus it was that the bishops were ulti- 
mately chosen by popular suffrage. 2 v 

Some contend that there is inconsistency in the statements 
of Jerome relative to prelacy. They allege, in proof, that 
whilst he describes the Church as governed, till the rise of 
" parties in religion," by the common council of the presbyters, 
he also speaks of bishops as in existence from the days of the 
apostles. " At Alexandria," says he, " from Mark the Evangel- 
ist [by whom the Church there was founded], to Heraclas 
and Dionysius the bishops [who flourished in the third cent- 
ury], the presbyters always named as bishop one chosen from 
among themselves and placed along with them 3 in a higher 
position." 4 It must appear, however, on due consideration, 
that here there is no inconsistency whatever. In the Epistle 
where this passage occurs, Jerome is asserting the ancient dig- 
nity of presbyters, and showing that they originally possessed 
prerogatives of which they had more recently been deprived. 
In proof of this he refers to the Church of Alexandria, one 

1 See Period ii., sec. i., chap, iv., pp. 302, 303 ; chap, v., p. 317. 

2 At an early period, out of three elders nominated by the presbytery, one 
was chosen by lot ; subsequently, out of three elders chosen by lot, one was 
elected by the people. See pp. 302, 317. We find something analogous in 
the history of the previous hierarchy. Thus, in ancient Rome, a new mem- 
ber was originally chosen by the co-optation, or selection, of the existing 
college of pontiffs : afterward, the college nominated two candidates, of 
whom the people chose one. See " Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Ro- 
man Antiquities," art. Pontifex. 

3 Collocatum. 4 Epist. ci. " Ad. Evangelum." 



486 JEROME NOT INCONSISTENT. 

of the greatest sees in Christendom, where for upwards of a 
century and a half after the days of the Evangelist Mark, the 
presbyters appointed their spiritual overseers, and performed 
all the ceremonies connected with their official investiture. But 
it does not therefore follow that meanwhile these overseers 
had always possessed exactly the same amount of authority. 
The very fact mentioned by Jerome suggests a quite different 
inference, as it proves that whilst the power of the presbyters 
had been declining, that of the bishops had increased. In 
the second century the presbyters inaugurated bishops ; in 
the days of Jerome they were not permitted even to ordain 
presbyters. 

Jerome says, indeed, that, in the beginning, the Alexandrian 
presbyters nominated their bishops, but we are not to conclude 
that the parties chosen were always known distinctively by the 
designation which he here gives to them. He evidently did 
not intend to convey such an impression, as in the same Epis- 
tle he demonstrates, by a whole series of texts of Scripture, 
that the titles bishop and presbyter were used interchangeably 
throughout the whole of the first century. By bishops he 
understands the presidents of the presbyteries, or the officials 
who filled the chairs which those termed bishops subsequently 
occupied. In their own age these primitive functionaries were 
called bishops and presbyters indifferently ; but they partially 
represented the bishops of succeeding times, and they ap- 
peared in the episcopal registries as links of the apostolical 
succession, so that Jerome did not deem it necessary to depart 
from the current nomenclature. His meaning can not be mis- 
taken by any one who attentively marks his language, for he 
has stated immediately before, that episcopal authority prop- 
erly commenced when the Church began to be distracted by 
the spirit of sectarianism. 1 

1 A few passages of the letter may here be given in the original. " Mani- 

festissime comprobatur eundem esse episcopum atque presbyterum 

Quod autem postea unus electus est, qui casteris praeponeretur, in schis- 
matis remedium factum est, ne unusquisque ad se trahens Christi ecclesiam 
rumperet. Nam et Alexandria? a Marco Evangelista usque ad Heraclam 
et Dionysium Episcopos, presbyteri semper unum ex se electum in excelsiori 
gradu collocatum episcopum nominabant." — Epist. ci. ad Evangelum. 



THE PRIMITIVE MODERATOR. 487 

In this passage, however, the learned father bears unequiv- 
ocal testimony to the fact that, from the earliest times, the 
presbytery had an official head or president. Such an arrange- 
ment was known in the days of the apostles. But the prim- 
itive moderator was very different from the bishop of the 
fourth century. He was the representative of the presby- 
tery — not its master. Christ had said to the disciples, " Who- 
soever will be great among you, let him be your minister; 
and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your serv- 
ant." 1 Such a chief was at the head of the ancient presby- 
tery. Without a president no Church court could transact 
business ; and it was the duty of the chairman to preserve 
order, to bear many official burdens, to ascertain the senti- 
ments of his brethren, to speak in their name, and to act 
in accordance with the dictates of their collective wisdom. 2 
The bishop of after-times rather resembled a despotic sover- 
eign in the midst of his counsellors. He might ask the advice 
of the presbyters, and condescend to defer to their recom- 
mendation ; but he also negatived their united resolutions, 
and caused the refractory quickly to feel the gravity of his 
displeasure. 

Though Jerome tells us how, for the destruction of the 
seeds of schisms, " it was decreed throughout the whole WORLD 
that one elected from the presbyters should be set over the 
rest," we are not to suppose that the decree was carried out, 
all at once, into universal operation. General councils were 

1 Matt. xx. 26, 27. 

2 The view here taken is sustained by the verdict of learned and candid 
Episcopalians. "When elders were ordained by the apostles in every 
Church, through every city, to feed the flock of Christ, whereof the Holy 
Ghost had made them overseers : they, to the intent that they might the 
better do it by common counsel and consent, did use to assemble them- 
selves and meet together. In the which meetings, for the more orderly 
handling and concluding of things pertaining to their charge, they chose 
one amongst them to be the president of their company and moderator of 
their actions." — The Judgment of Doctor Rainoldes touching the Original 
of Episcopacy more largely confirmed out of Antiquity, by James Ussher, 
Archbishop of Armagh. Ussher's Works, vii., p. 75. See also Hallam's 
" Constitutional History," ii. 180. 



488 PROGRESS OF THE CHANGE. 

yet unknown, and the decree was sanctioned at different times 
and by distant Church judicatories. Such a measure was first 
thought of shortly before the middle of the second century, 
but it was not very extensively adopted until about fifty years 
afterward. The history of its origin must now be more mi- 
nutely investigated. 



CHAPTER VII. 



PRELACY BEGINS IN ROME. 



Any attentive reader who has marked the chronology of 
the early bishops of Rome, as given by Eusebius, 1 may have 
observed that the pastorates of those who flourished during 
the first forty years of the second century were all of compar- 
atively short duration. Clement is commonly reputed to have 
died about A.D. ioo ; 2 he was followed by Evaristus, Alexan- 
der, Xystus, and Telesphorus ; and Hyginus, who was placed 
at the head of the Church in A.D. 139, and who died in A.D. 
142, was the fifth in succession. Thus, the five ministers next 
in order after Clement occupied the post of president only 
forty-two years, and, with the exception of Hyginus, whose 
official career was very brief, each held the situation for nearly 

1 Pearson has endeavored to destroy the credit of this chronology, and 
has urged against it the authority of the " Annals of Eutychius " ! " De 
Successione prim. Rom. Episc." He had before labored to prove that the 
testimony of these "Annals " is worthless. " Vindic. Ignat." pars i., c. xi. 

2 The chronology of Eusebius, as arranged by Bower in his " Lives of the 
Popes," stands thus : 

Evaristus, . . . A.D. 100 to A.D. 109. 



Alexander, 

Sixtus (or Xystus), 

Telesphorus, 

Hyginus, 

Pius, 

Anicetus, 

Soter, . 

Eleutherius, 

Victor, . 



A.D. 109 to A.D. 119. 
A.D. 119 to A.D. 128. 
A.D. 128 to A.D. 139. 
A.D. I39 to A.D. I42. 
A.D. 142 to A.D. 157. 
A.D. 157 to A.D. 168. 
A.D. 168 to A.D. 176. 
A.D. 176 to A.D. I92. 
A.D. I92 tO A.D. 20I. 
(489) 



490 



THE TIME OF HYGINUS. 



an equal period. 1 But, on the death of Hyginus, a pastorate 
of unusual length commences, as Pius, by whom he was fol- 
lowed, continued fifteen years in office — a term considerably 
more extended than that of any of his five predecessors. 
Reckoning from the date of the advancement of Pius, we find 
also a decided increase in the average length of the life of the 
president for the remainder of the century ; as, of the ten in- 
dividuals in all who were at the head of the Roman Church 
during its revolution, the five who followed next after Clement 
lived only forty-two years, whilst their five successors lived 
fifty-nine years. Thus, there is at least some ostensible ground 
for the inquiry whether any arrangement was made in the 
time of Hyginus, which may account for these statistics. 

The origin of the Church of Rome, like the origin of the 
city, is buried in obscurity ; and a very few facts constitute 
the whole amount of our information respecting it during the 
first century of its existence. About the time of Hyginus 
the twilight of history begins to dawn upon it. Guided by 
the glimmerings of intelligence thus supplied, we shall en- 
deavor to illustrate this dark passage in its annals. The fol- 
lowing statements contribute somewhat to the explanation of 
transactions which have hitherto been rarely noticed by 
modern ecclesiastical writers : 

I. A change in the organization of the Church about the 
time of Hyginus, accounts for the increase in the average 



1 The following is the chronology of Pearson : 

Clement, 

Evaristus, 

Alexander, 

Xystus, . 

Telesphorus, 

Hyginus, 

Pius, 

Anicetus, 

Soter, 

Eleutherius, 

Victor, . 
-Minor Works, ii., pp. 570, 57 





died A.D. 


83 


A.D. 


83 to A.D. 


91 


A.D. 


91 to A.D. 


IOI 


A.D. 


IOI to A.D. 


III 


A.D. 


Ill to A.D. 


122. 


A.D. 


122 to A.D. 


126. 


A.D. 


127 tO A.D. 


142. 


A.D. 


142 tO A.D. 


l6l 


A.D. 


l6l to A.D. 


I70 


A.D. 


170 to A.D. 


I8 5 


A.D. 


185 tO A.D. 


197. 



PRELACY BEGINS. 49I 

length of the lives of the Roman bishops. 1 If the alteration, 
mentioned by Hilary, was now made in the mode of succes- 
sion to the presidential chair, such a result followed. Under 
the new regime, the recommendation of large experience had 
still much weight in the choice of a bishop, but he frequently 
entered on his duties at an earlier age, and thus the ordinary 
duration of his official career was considerably extended. 2 

II. The time of Hyginus exactly answers to the description 
of the period when, according to the testimony of Jerome, 
prelacy commenced. The heretics then exhibited extraordi- 
nary zeal, so that " parties in religion " were springing up all 
over the Empire. The Church of Rome had hitherto escaped 
the contagion of false doctrine, 3 but now errorists from all 
quarters began to violate its purity and to disturb its peace. 
Valentine, Cerdo, Marcion, and Marcus appeared about this 
time in the Western capital. 4 Some of these men were noted 

1 I have endeavored, from the records of the late Synod of Ulster, to 
estimate the medium length of the incumbency of a moderator for life, 
being the senior minister of a presbytery of from ten to fifteen members, 
and have found that the average of thirty-six successions amounted to 
between eight and nine years. In these presbyteries young ministers gen- 
erally constituted a considerable portion of the members. Had they all 
been persons advanced in life, the average must have been greatly reduced. 

2 During that part of the second century which terminated with the death 
of Hyginus, the average duration of the life of a Roman bishop very little 
exceeded eight years ; whereas, during the remainder of the century, it 
amounted to nearly twelve years. According to the chronology of Pear- 
son the disproportion is still greater, being as eight years and a fraction to 
fourteen years. If we insert the episcopate of Anacletus, it will be nearly 
as seven to fourteen. 

3 In the verses erroneously attributed to Tertullian, the Church of Rome 
is represented as in a flourishing state when visited by Cerdo. 

" Advenit Roman Cerdo, nova vulnera gestans 
Detectus, quoniam voces et verba veneni 
Spargebat furtim ; quapropter ab agmine pulsus, 
Sacrilegum genus hoc genuit spirante dracone. 
Constabat pietate vigens Ecclesia Romas 
Composita a Petro, cujus successor et ipse 
Jamque loco nono cathedram suscepit Hyginus." 

4 Euseb. iv. 11. Irenasus says that Valentine, the most famous and for- 
midable of the Gnostic teachers, " came to Rome under Hyginus, was in 



49 2 THE TIME OF HYGINUS. 

for their genius and learning ; and they created no common 
ferment. They were assiduous in the dissemination of their 
principles, and several of them resorted to very extraordinary 
and unwarrantable expedients for strengthening their respect- 
ive factions. An ancient writer represents them as conduct- 
ing their adherents to water, and as baptizing them " in the 
name of the Unknown Father of the universe ; in the Truth, 
the mother of all ; and in Him who descended on Jesus." 
" Others again," says the same authority, " repeated Hebrew 
names to inspire the initiated with the greater awe." ' These 
attempts at proselytism were not unsuccessful. Valentine, in 
particular, made many converts, and after his death, when 
Irenaeus wrote a refutation of his heresy, his disciples were 
still numerous. 2 

The account given by Jerome of the state of the Christian 
interest when it was deemed necessary to set up episcopacy, 
is not so completely supplemented by the condition of the 
Church at any other period. Never certainly did the brethren 
at Rome more require the services of a skilful and energetic 
leader, than when the Gnostic chiefs settled in the great me- 
tropolis. Never could it be said with so much truth of their 
community, in the language of the Latin father, that " every 
one reckoned those whom he baptized as belonging to himself 
and not to Christ "; 8 for, as we have just seen, some, when 
baptizing their disciples, used even new forms of initiation. 
Never, assuredly, had the advocates of expediency a better 
opportunity for pleading in favor of a decree ordaining that 
" one chosen from among the presbyters should be put over 
the rest, and that the whole care of the Church should be 

his prime under Pius, and lived until the time of Anicetus." — Contra Hceres., 
iii., 4, § 3. Cyprian speaks of " the more grievous pestilences of heresy 
breaking forth when Marcion the Pontian emerged from Pontus, whose 
master Cerdo came to Rome during the episcopate of Hyginus" — Epist. 
lxxiv. He adds, " But it is acknowledged that heresies afterwards became 
more numerous and worse." — Epist. lxxiv., Opera, pp. 293, 294. 

1 Euseb. iv. 11. See also a fragment attributed to Irenaeus in Stieren's 
edition, i. 938. 

2 See Mosheim, " Commentaries," by Vidal, ii. 266. 

3 Hieronymus, " Comment, in Titum." 



PRELACY BEGINS. 493 

committed to him, that the seeds of schism should be taken 
away." 1 

III. The testimony of Hilary, who was contemporary with 
Jerome, exactly accords with the views here promulgated as 
to the date of this occurrence. This writer, who was also a 
minister of the Roman Church, was acquainted with a tradi- 
tion that a change had taken place at an early period in the 
mode of ecclesiastical government. His evidence is all the 
more valuable as it contains internal proofs of derivation from 
an independent source ; for, whilst it corroborates the state- 
ment of Jerome, it supplies fresh historical details. Accord- 
ing to his account, " after that churches were erected in all 
places and offices established, an arrangement was adopted 
different from that which prevailed at the beginning." 3 By 
"the beginning" he understands the apostolic age, or the 
time when the New Testament was written. 3 He then goes 
on to say, in explanation, that it was found necessary to 
change the mode of appointing the chairman of the presby- 
tery, and that he was now promoted to the office by election, 
and not by seniority. 4 Whilst his language indicates distinctly 
that this alteration was made after the days of the apostles, it 
also implies a date not later than the second century ; ior f 
though it was " after the beginning," it was at a time when 
churches had been only recently " erected in all places, and of-' 

1 Hieronymus, " Comment, in Titum." 

2 " Tamen postquam in omnibus locis ecclesiae sunt constitutse, et officia 
ordinata, aliter composita res est, quam coeperat." — Comment, in Epist. ad 
Ephes., cap. 4. 

8 " Ideo non per omnia conveniunt scripta apostoli ordinationi, quae nunc 
in ecclesia est; quia haec inter ipsa primordia sunt scripta." — Ibid. 

4 " Ut non ordo, sed meritum crearet episcopum." — Ibid. Hilary appears 
to have believed with Jerome that the Church was originally governed " by 
the common council of the presbyters," but that, meanwhile, with their 
sanction, or under peculiar circumstances, deacons might preach and even 
laymen baptize. Such, too, was the opinion of Tertullian. See Kaye's 
" Tertullian," pp. 226, 448. Hilary, however, maintained that this arrange- 
ment was soon abrogated. " Ccepit alio ordine et providentia gubernari 
ecclesia ; quia si omnes eadem possent, irrationabile esset, et vulgaris res, 
et vilissima videretur." 



494 THE TIME OF HYGINUS. 

flees established." The period of the spread of heresies at 
Rome, at the commencement of the reign of Antoninus Pius, 
and when Hyginus closed his career, answers these conditions. 

IV. As. Rome was the headquarters of heathenism, it was 
also the place where the divisions of the Church proved most 
disastrous. There, the worship of the State was celebrated in 
all its magnificence ; there, the Emperor, the Pontifex Max- 
imus of the gods, surrounded by a splendid hierarchy of 
priests and augurs, presided at the great festivals ; and there, 
thousands and tens of thousands, prompted by interest or by 
prejudice, were prepared to struggle for the maintenance of 
the ancient superstition. Already, the Church of Rome had 
often sustained the violence of persecution ; but, notwith- 
standing the bloody trials it had undergone, it had continued 
steadily to gain strength ; and a sagacious student of the signs 
of the times might even now have looked forward to the day 
when Christianity and paganism, on nearly equal terms, would 
be contending for mastery in the chief city of the Empire. 
But the proceedings of the heretics were calculated to dissi- 
pate all the visions of ecclesiastical ascendency. If the Ro- 
man Christians were split up into fragments by sectarianism, 
the Church, in one of its great centres of influence, was incal- 
culably injured. And yet, how could the crisis be averted? 
How could heresy be most effectually discountenanced ? How 
could the unity of the Church be best maintained? In times 
of peril the Romans had formerly been wont to set up a Dic- 
tator, and to commit the whole power of the commonwealth 
to one trusty and vigorous ruler. During the latter days of 
the Republic, the State had been almost torn to pieces by con- 
tending factions ; and now, under the sway of the Emperors 
it enjoyed comparative repose. It occurred to the brethren 
at Rome to try the effects of a similar change in the ecclesias- 
tical constitution. By committing the government of the 
Church, in this emergency, almost entirely into the hands of 
one able and resolute administrator, they hoped to contend 
successfully against the dangers by which they were encom- 
passed. 

V. A recent calamity of a different character was calculated 



PRELACY BEGINS. 495 

to abate the jealousy which such a proposition would have 
otherwise awakened. Telesphorus, the immediate predeces 
sor of Hyginus, suffered a violent death. 1 Telesphorus is the 
first bishop of Rome whose title to martyrdom can be fairly 
established ; and not one of his successors during the re- 
mainder of the second century forfeited his life for his relig- 
ion. The death of the presiding pastor, as a victim to the in- 
tolerance of heathenism, threw the whole Church into a state 
of confusion and perplexity ; and when Hyginus was called 
upon to occupy the vacant chair, well might he enter upon its 
duties with deep anxiety. The appearance of heresy multi- 
plied the difficulties of his office. It could now be asked 
with no small amount of plausibility — Is the presiding presby- 
ter to have no special privileges ? If his mind is to be har- 
assed continually by errorists, and if his life is to be imperilled 
in the service of the Church, should he not be distinguished 
above his brethren ? Without some such encouragement will 
not the elders at length refuse to accept a situation which en- 
tails so much responsibility, and yet possesses so little influ- 
ence? Such questions, urged under such circumstances, must 
have been felt to be perplexing. 

VI. As there was constant intercourse between the seat of 
government and all the provinces of the Empire, the Church 
of the metropolis soon contrived to avail itself of the facilities 
of its position for keeping up a correspondence with the 
Churches of other countries. 2 In due time the results be. 
came apparent. Every event of interest which occurred in 
any quarter of the Christian world was known speedily in the 
capital ; no important religious movement could succeed with- 
out the concurrence and co-operation of the brethren at 
Rome ; and its ministers gradually acquired such influence 
that they were able, to some extent, to control the public 
opinion of the whole ecclesiastical community. On this occa- 
sion they, perhaps, did not find it difficult to persuade their 
co-religionists to enter into their views. In Antioch, in Alex- 
andria, in Ephesus, and elsewhere, as well as in Italy, the her- 

1 Irenasus, iii. 3, § 3. 2 See Period ii., sec. i„ chap, iv., pp. 304-305. 



496 THE CHAIR LONG VACANT ABOUT A.D. 142. 

etics had been displaying the most mischievous activity; ' and 
it is not improbable that the remedy now proposed by the 
ruling spirits in the great city had already suggested itself to 
others. During the summer months vessels were trading to 
Rome from all the coasts of the Mediterranean, so that Chris- 
tian deputies, without much inconvenience, could repair to 
headquarters, and, in concert with the metropolitan presby- 
ters, make arrangements for united action. If the champions 
of orthodoxy were nearly as zealous as the errorists, 2 they trav- 
elled much during these days of excitement. But had not 
the idea of increasing the power of the presiding pastor orig- 
inated in Rome, or had it not been supported by the weighty 
sanction of the Church of the capital, it would not have been 
so readily and so extensively adopted by the Churches in 
other parts of the Empire. I 

VII. Though we know little of the early history of the 
Roman see, we have evidence that, on the death of Hy- 
ginus, there was a vacancy of unusual length ; and circum- 
stances, which meanwhile took place, argue strongly in favor 
of the conclusion that, at this time, the change in the ecclesi- 
astical constitution indicated by Jerome actually occurred. 
According to some, the interval between the death of Hyginus 
and the commencement of the episcopate of Pius, his im- 
mediate successor, was of several years' duration ; 3 but it is 
clear that the chair was vacant for a twelvemonth. 4 How are 
we to account for this interregnum? We know that subse- 
quently, in the times of Decius and of Diocletian, there were 
vacancies of quite as long continuance ; but then the Church 
was in the agonies of martyrdom, and the Roman Christians 
were prevented by the strong arm of imperial tyranny from 
filling up the bishopric. Now no such calamity threatened ; 

1 Irenasus, i. 24, § 1 ; i. 28, § 1. 

2 Thus, Valentine travelled from Alexandria to Rome, and afterward set- 
tled in Cyprus. Marcion, who was originally connected with Pontus, and 
who taught in Rome, also travelled in Egypt and the East. 

3 "Blondelli Apologia pro Sententia Hieronymi," p. 18. Blondel makes 
the vacancy of four years' continuance. 

4 Pearson's "Minor Works," ii. p. 571. 



VALENTINE A CANDIDATE FOR THE CHAIR. 497 

and the commotions created by the heretics supply evidence 
that persecution was asleep. This long vacancy must be other- 
wise explained. If Hyginus had been invested with addi- 
tional authority, and if he soon afterward died, his removal 
was the signal for the renewal of agitation. Questions which, 
perhaps, had not hitherto been mooted, now arose. How was 
the vacant place to be supplied ? Was the senior presbyter, 
no matter how ill adapted for the crisis, to be allowed to take 
quiet possession? If other influential Churches required to 
be consulted, some time would thus be occupied ; so that de- 
lay in the appointment was unavoidable. 

During this interval the spirit of faction was busily at work. 
The heretic Marcion sought admission into the Roman pres- 
bytery ; * and Valentine, who was now recognized as a presby- 
ter, 2 no doubt supported the application. The presbytery it- 
self was divided, and even Valentine had hopes of obtaining 
the presidential chair ! His pretensions, at this period of his 
career, were sufficiently imposing. Though he may have been 
suspected of unsoundness in the faith, he had not yet com- 
mitted himself by any public avowal of his errors ; and as a 
man of literary accomplishment, address, energy, and elo- 
quence, he had few compeers. No wonder, with so many dis- 
turbing elements in operation, that the see remained long 
vacant. 

Some would willingly deny that Valentine was a candidate 
for the episcopal chair of Rome, but the fact can be estab- 
lished by evidence the most direct and conclusive. Tertul- 
lian, who had lived in the imperial city, and who was well ac- 
quainted with its Church history, expressly states that " Val- 
entine hoped for the bishopric, because he excelled in genius 
and eloquence, but indignant that another, who had the superior 
claim of a confessor, obtained the place, he deserted the 
Catholic Church." 8 The Carthaginian father does not, indeed, 

1 Epiphanius, " Hasres." 42, Opera, torn, i., p. 302. 

2 See Burton's " Lectures," ii. 98. 

3 " Speraverat episcopatum Valentinus, quia et ingenio poterat et eloquio 
Sed alium ex martyrii praerogativa loci potitum indignatus de ecclesia au- 
thenticas regular abrupit." — Adv. Valent., c. IV. 

32 



498 THE LETTERS OF PIUS OF ROME. 

here name the see to which the heresiarch unsuccessfully 
aspired, but his words shut us up to the conclusion that he 
alluded to Rome. 1 And we can thus discover at least one 
reason why the history of this vacancy has been involved in 
so much mystery. In a few more generations the whole 
Church felt compromised by any reflection cast on the ortho- 
doxy of the great Western bishopric. 2 How sadly must many 
have been scandalized had it been proclaimed abroad that the 
arch-heretic Valentine once hoped to occupy the chair of St. 
Peter! y 

VIII. Two letters still extant, and supposed to have been 
addressed by Pius, the immediate successor of Hyginus, to 
Justus, bishop of Vienne in Gaul, supply corroborative evi- 
dence that the presiding pastor had recently obtained addi- 
tional authority. Though the genuineness of these documents 
has been questioned, the objections urged against them have 
not been sufficient to prevent critics and antiquarians of all 
parties from appealing to their testimony. 3 It is not improb- 
able that they are Latin translations from Greek originals, 
and we may thus account for a few words found in them which 
were introduced at a later period. 4 Their tone and spirit, which 

1 Tertulllan states that Valentine at first believed the doctrine of the 
Catholics in the Church of Rome. " De Praescrip." c. 30. When he came 
to the city he was admitted to communion. He set up a distinct sect after 
Pius was made bishop. It is impossible, therefore, to avoid the inference 
that he was mortified because he was not himself chosen. Tertullian here 
confounds Eleutherius and Hyginus. 

2 The unwillingness even of Tertullian to say anything to its prejudice 
has been often remarked. See Neander on a passage in the tract "De Virg. 
Veland," in his " Antignostikos," appended to his " History of the Planting 
and Training of the Christian Church," in Bonn's edition, ii. 420. See also 
the same, p. 429. See also " De Pudicitia," c. 1. 

3 They are quoted as genuine by Binius, Baronius, Bona, Thorndike, 
Bingham, Salamasius, and many others. Bishop Beveridge speaks of one 
of them as of undoubted authority. " In indubitata illius epistola." — Annot. 
in Can. Ap. See Cotelerius, i. 459. Pearson rejects them as spurious, 
whilst contending so valiantly for the Ignatian Epistles. 

4 Such as Missa and Titulus. But that Pastor really did erect a place in 
which the Christians assembled for worship, as stated in one of these let- 
ters, is not improbable. See Routh's " Reliquiae," i. 430. Pearson objects 



THE LETTERS OF PIUS OF ROME. 499 

are entirely different from the spurious productions ascribed 
to the same age, plead strongly in their favor as trustworthy 
witnesses. The writer makes no lofty pretensions as a Roman 
bishop ; he speaks of himself simply as at the head of an 
humble presbytery; and it is difficult to divine the motive 
which could have tempted an impostor to fabricate such un- 
pretending compositions. Though given as the veritable 
Epistles of Pius by the highest literary authorities of Rome, 
they are certainly ill calculated to prop up the cause of the 
Papacy. If their claims are admitted, they rank among the 
earliest authentic records in which the distinction between the 
terms bishop and presbyter is unequivocally recognized ; and 
it is obvious that alterations in the ecclesiastical constitution, 
made under Hyginus, must have prepared the way for such a 
change in the terminology. In one of these Epistles Pius 
gives the following piece of advice to his correspondent : 
" Let the elders and deacons respect you, not as a greater, 
but as the servant of Christ." x This letter purports to have 
been written when its author anticipated the approach of 
death ; and the individual to whom it is directed was just 
placed in the episcopal chair. Had Pius believed that Justus 
had a divine right to rule over the presbyters, why tender such 
an admonition? A hundred years afterward, Cyprian of Car- 
thage, when addressing a young prelate, would certainly have 
expressed himself very differently. He would, probably, have 
complained of the presumption of the presbyters, have 
boasted of the majesty of the episcopate, and have exhorted 
the new bishop to remember his apostolical dignity. But, in the 

to them on the ground that Eleutherius is spoken of in one of them as a 
presbyter, whereas Hegesippus describes him as deacon afterward in the 
time of Anicetus. See Euseb. iv. 22. But it is not clear that Hegesippus 
here uses the word deacon in its strictly technical sense. He may mean by 
it minister or manager, and may design to indicate that Eleutherius was 
the most pro7ninent official personage under Anicetus, occupying the posi- 
tion afterward held by the archdeacon. It is also not improbable that, 
among the officials of the Roman Church in the times of Pius and Anicetus 
there were two persons of the name of Eleutherius. 

1 " Presbyteri et Diaconi, non ut majorem, sed ut ministrum Christi te 
observent." 



500 THE LETTERS OF PIUS OF ROME. 

middle of the second century, such language must have been 
strangely out of place. Pius is writing to an individual, just 
entering on an office lately endowed with additional privileges, 
who could not yet afford to make an arbitrary use of his new 
authority. He, therefore, counsels him to moderation, and 
cautions him against presuming on his power. " Beware," 
says he, " in your intercourse with your presbyters and dea- 
cons, of insisting too much on the duty of obedience. Let 
them feel that your prerogative is not exercised capriciously, 
but for good and necessary purposes. Let the elders and 
deacons regard you, not so much in the light of a superior, as 
the servant of Christ." 

In another portion of this letter a piece of intelligence is 
communicated, which, as coming from Pius, possesses peculiar 
interest. When the law was enacted altering the mode of 
succession to the presidency, it may be that the proceeding 
was deemed somewhat ungracious toward those aged presby- 
ters who soon expected, as a matter of right, to obtain posses- 
sion of the seat of the moderator. The death of Telesphorus, 
the predecessor of Hyginus, as a martyr, was, indeed, calculated 
to abate an anxiety to secure the chair ; for the whole Church 
was thus painfully reminded that it was a post of danger, as 
well as of dignity ; but still, when, on the occurrence of the 
first vacancy, Pius was promoted over the heads of older men, 
he may, on this ground, have felt, to some extent, embarrassed 
by his elevation. We infer, however, from this letter, that 
the few senior presbyters, with whose advancement the late 
arrangement interfered, did not long survive this crisis in the 
history of the Church ; for the bishop of Rome here informs 
his Gallic brother of their demise. "Those presbyters," says 
he, " who were taught by the apostles, 1 and who have survived 
to our own days, with whom we have united in dispensing the 
word of faith, have now, in obedience to the call of the Lord, 
gone to their eternal rest." a Such a notice of the decease of 

1 That, in the time of Marcion, there were Roman presbyters who had 
been disciples of the apostles, see Tillemont, " Memoires," torn, ii., sec. par. 
p. 215. Edit., Brussels, 1695. 

8 " Presbyteri illi qui ab apostolis educati usque ad nos pervenerunt, cum 



NEW USE OF THE WORD BISHOP. 501 

these venerable colleagues is precisely what might have been 
expected, under the circumstances, in a letter from Pius to 
Justus. 

IX. The use of the word bishop, as denoting the president 
of the presbytery, marks an era in the history of ecclesiastical 
polity. New terms are not coined without necessity ; neither, 
without an adequate cause, is a new meaning annexed to an 
ancient designation. When the name bishop was first used as 
descriptive of the chief pastor, there was some special reason for 
such an application of the title ; and the rise of the hierarchy 
furnishes the only satisfactory explanation. 1 If, then, we can 
ascertain when this new nomenclature first made its appear- 
ance, we can also fix the date of the origin of prelacy. Though 
the documentary proof available for the illustration of this 
subject is comparatively scanty, it is sufficient for our purpose ; 
and it clearly shows that the presiding elder did not begin to 
be known by the title of bishop until about the middle of the 
second century. Polycarp, who wrote at that time, 2 still uses 
the terminology employed by the apostles. Justin Martyr, 
the earliest father who has left behind him memorials amount- 
ing in extent to anything like a volume, often speaks of the 
chief minister of the Church, and designates him, not the 

quibus simul verbum fidei partiti sumus, a Domino vocati in cubilibus aeter- 
nis clausi tenentur." 

1 Pearson (" Vindicise," par. ii., c. 13) has appealed to a letter from the 
Emperor Hadrian to the Consul Servianus as a proof that the terms bishop 
and presbyter had distinctive meanings as early as A.D. 134. The passage 
is as follows : " 1111 qui Serapim colunt, Christiani sunt ; et devoti sunt Serapi, 
qui se Christi episcopos dicunt. Nemo illic Archisynagogus Judaeorum, 

nemo Samarites, nemo Christianorum Presbyter Ipse ille Patriarcha, 

quum yEgyptum venerit, ab aliis Serapidem adorare, ab aliis cogitur Chris- 
tum." Such a testimony only shows that Pearson was sadly in want of evi- 
dence. This same letter has, in fact, often been adduced to prove that the 
terms bishop and presbyter were still used interchangeably, and such is 
certainly the more legitimate inference. See Lardner's remarks on this 
letter, Works, vol. vii., p. 99. Edit., London, 1838. 

2 " The Philippians appear to have continued to live under the same aris- 
tocratic constitution (of venerable elders) about the middle of the second 
century, when Polycarp addressed his Epistle to them." — Bunsen's Hippo- 
lytus, i., 369. Bishop Lightfoot concurs in this view. 



502 NEW USE OF THE WORD BISHOP. 

bishop, but the president? His phraseology is all the more 
important as he lived for some time in Rome, 2 and adopted 
the style of expression current in the great city. But another 
writer, who was his contemporary, and who also resided in the 
capital, incidentally supplies evidence that the new title was 
then just coming into use. The author of the book called 
" Pastor," when referring to those who were at the head of the 
presbyteries, describes them as " THE BISHOPS, that is, THE 
PRESIDENTS OF THE CHURCHES." s The reason why he here 
deems it necessary to explain what he means by bishops can 
not well be mistaken. The name, in its new application, was 
not yet familiar to the public ear; and required to be inter- 
preted by the more ancient designation. Could we tell when 
this work of Hermas was written, we could also, perhaps, name 
the very year when the president of the eldership was first 
called bishop. 4 It is now pretty generally admitted that the 
author was no other than the brother of Pius of Rome, 6 the 
immediate successor of Hyginus, so that he wrote exactly at 
the time when, as appears from other evidences, the transition 
from presbytery to prelacy actually occurred. His words fur- 
nish a very strong, but an undesigned, attestation to the 
novelty of the episcopal regimen. 

X. But the most pointed, and certainly the most remark- 
able testimony to the fact that a change took place in the con- 
stitution of the Roman Church in the time of Hyginus is fur- 
nished from a quarter where such a voucher was to have been, 
least of all, anticipated. We allude to the Pontifical Book. 
This work has been ascribed to Damasus, the well-known 
bishop of the metropolis of the West, who flourished in the 

1 Trpoearwf, Opera, pp. 97-99. 2 Euseb. iv. II. 

3 " Episcopi, id est, presides ecclesiarum." — Lib. iii., simil. ix., c. 27. 
There is a parallel passage to this in Tertullian, " De Baptismo," c. 17, 
" Su^nmus sacerdos, qui est episcopus." This is, perhaps, the first instance 
on record in which a bishop is called the chief priest. Hence the necessity 
of the interpretation, " qui est episcopus." Pastor considered an explana- 
tion of the title " episcopus " equally necessary. 

4 Neander supposes this work to have been written A.D. 156. "General 
History," ii. 443. 

6 See Period ii., sec. ii., chap, i., p. 334. 



TESTIMONY OF THE PONTIFICAL BOOK. 503 

fourth century, but much of it is unquestionably of later origin •, 
and though many of its statements are apocryphal, it is often 
quoted as a document of weight by the most distinguished 
writers of the Romish communion. 1 Its account of the early 
popes is little better than a mass of fables ; but some of its 
details are exaggerations, or rather caricatures, of an authen- 
tic tradition ; and a few grains of truth may be discovered 
here and there in a heap of fictions and anachronisms. This 
part of the production contains one brief sentence which has 
greatly puzzled the commentators, 8 as it is strangely out of keep- 
ing with the general spirit of the narrative, and as it contra- 
dicts, rather awkwardly, the pretensions of the popedom. Ac- 
cording to this testimony, Hyginus " ARRANGED THE CLERGY 
AND DISTRIBUTED THE GRADATIONS." 3 Peter himself is 
described by Romanists as organizing the Church ; but here, 
one of his alleged successors, upward of seventy years after 
his death, is set forth as the real framer of the hierarchy.* 
The facts already adduced prove that this obscure announce- 
ment rests upon a sound historical foundation, and that it 
vaguely indicates the alterations introduced into the ecclesi- 
astical constitution. If Hilary and Jerome be employed as its 

1 So high indeed is its authority that many facts taken from it are recorded 
in the " Breviary." Even Bunsen appeals to it. See " Analecta Antenicaena," 

"i. 52, 53- 

2 Binius makes the following abortive attempt to explain the statement : 
" Quod hierarchicus catholicae ecclesiae ordo, quo presbyteri episcopis, dia- 
coni presbyteris, populus presbyteris et diaconis subditus est, ab Hygino 
compositus esse hie dicitur, non aliter intelligi potest, quam quod Hyginus 
hierarchiae ecclesiasticas jam tempore apostolorum a Christo Domino con- 
stitutse, et a Sanctis Patribus ipso antiquioribus comprobatae, quaedam dun- 
taxat injuria temporum et scriptorum deperdita addiderit, vel eadem quas 
Divino jure instituta, et a patribus comprobata sunt, hac constitutione sua 
illustraverit. " — Concilia, i. 65, 66. 

3 " Hie clerum composuit, et distribuit gradus." — Binii Concil. i. 65. 
Baronius, ad annum, 158. 

4 When referring to this statement Baronius says : " Porro quod ad gradus 
cujusque ordinis in Ecclesia, quo ecclesiastica habetur composita hierarchia, 
jam a temporibus apostolorum hasc facta esse, Ignatio auctore et aliis, tomo 
primo Annalium demonstravimus ; verum aliqua antique? formce ab Hygi- 
niofuisse addita, vel eadem illustrata, ocquum est cestimare'* 



504 TESTIMONY OF THE PONTIFICAL BOOK. 

interpreters, the truth may be easily eliminated. At a synod 
held in Rome, Hyginus brought under the notice of the meet- 
ing the confusion and scandal created by the movements of 
the errorists ; and, with a view to correct these disorders, the 
council agreed to invest the moderator of each presbytery 
with increased authority, to give him a discretionary power as 
the general superintendent of the Church, and to require the 
other elders, as well as the deacons, to act under his advice 
and direction. A new functionary was thus established, and, 
under the old name of bishop or overseer, a third order was 
virtually added to the ecclesiastical brotherhood. Hence Hy- 
ginus, who took a prominent part in the deliberations of the 
convocation, is said to have " arranged the clergy and dis- 
tributed the gradations." 

The change in the ecclesiastical polity which now occurred 
led to results equally extensive and permanent, and yet it has 
been but indistinctly noticed by the writers of antiquity. Nor 
is it strange that we have no contemporary account of this ec- 
clesiastical revolution. The history of other occurrences and 
innovations is buried in profound obscurity. We can only 
ascertain by inference what were the reasons which led to the 
general adoption of the sign of the cross, to the use of the 
chrism in baptism, to standing at the Lord's Supper, to the 
institution of lectors, acolyths, and sub-deacons, and to the 
establishment of metropolitans. Though the Paschal contro- 
versy agitated almost the whole Church toward the close of 
the second century, and though Tertullian wrote immediately 
afterward, he does not once mention it in any of his numer- 
ous extant publications. 1 Owing to peculiar circumstances 
the rise of prelacy can be more minutely traced than that of 
any other of the alterations introduced during the first three 
centuries. At the time the change was considered not very 
important ; but, as the remaining literary memorials of the 
period are few and scanty, the reception which it experienced 
can now only be conjectured. The alteration was adopted as 
an antidote against the growth of heresy, and thus originat- 

1 See Kaye's " Tertullian," p. 414. 



TRACES OF THE RISE OF PRELACY. 505 

ing in circumstances of a humiliating character, there was 
little disposition, on the part of ecclesiastical writers, to dwell 
upon its details. Soon afterward the pride of churchmen be- 
gan to be developed ; and it was then found convenient to 
forget that all things originally did not accord with existing 
arrangements, and that the hierarchy itself was but a human 
contrivance. Prelacy soon advanced apace, and every bishop 
had an interest in exalting " his order." It is only wonderful 
that so much truth has oozed out from witnesses so preju- 
diced, and that the Pontifical Book contains so decisive a de- 
position. And the momentous consequences of this appar- 
ently slight infringement on the primitive polity can not be 
overlooked. That very Church which, in its attempts to sup- 
press heresy, first departed from divine arrangements, was 
soon involved in doctrinal error, and eventually became the 
great foster-mother of superstition and idolatry. 

It may at first seem extraordinary that the ecclesiastical 
transformation was so rapidly accomplished ; but, when the 
circumstances are more attentively considered, this view of 
the subject presents no real difficulty. At the outset, the 
principle sanctioned produced very little alteration on the 
general aspect of the spiritual commonwealth. At this period 
a Church, in most places, consisted of a single congregation ; 
and as one elder laboring in the word and doctrine was gen- 
erally deemed sufficient to minister to the flock, only a slight 
modification took place in the constitution of such a society. 
The preaching elder, who was entitled by authority of Script- 
ure 1 to take precedence of elders who only ruled, had always 
been permitted to act as moderator ; but, on the ground of 
the new arrangement, the pastor began to assume an authority 
over his session which he had never hitherto ventured to ex- 
ercise. In the beginning of the reign of Antoninus Pius the 
number of towns with several Christian congregations was but 
small ; and if five or six leading cities approved of the system 
now inaugurated at Rome, its general adoption was thus se- 
cured. The statements of Jerome and Hilary attest that the 

1 1 Tim. v. 17. 



506 THE CHANGE EASILY ACCOMPLISHED. 

matter was submitted to a synod ; and the remarkable inter- 
regnum which followed the death of Hyginus can be best ac- 
counted for on the hypothesis that meanwhile the ministers 
of the great metropolis found it necessary to consult the 
rulers of other influential and distant Churches. If the meas- 
ure had the sanction of these foreign brethren, they were pre- 
pared to resort to it at home on the demise of their presiding 
presbyter. Heretics were disturbing the Church all over the 
Empire, so that the same arguments could be everywhere 
used in favor of the new polity. There was a vacancy in the 
presidential chair at Antioch about the time of the death of 
Hyginus ; and in the course of the next year, a similar va- 
cancy occurred at Alexandria. 1 If the three most important 
Churches then in Christendom, with the sanction of a very 
few others of less note, almost simultaneously adopted the 
new arrangement, the question was practically settled. There 
were probably not twenty cities to be found with more than 
one Christian congregation ; and places of inferior conse- 
quence would speedily act upon the example of the large 
capitals. But unquestionably the system now introduced 
gradually effected a complete revolution in the state of the 
Church. The ablest man in the presbytery was commonly 
elevated to the chair, so that the weight of his talents, and of 
his general character, was added to his official consequence. 
The bishop soon became the grand centre of influence and 
authority, and arrogated to himself the principal share in the 
administration of all divine ordinances. 

When this change commenced, the venerable Polycarp was 
still alive, and there are grounds for believing that, when far 
advanced in life, he was induced to undertake a journey to 
Rome on a mission of remonstrance. This view is corrobo- 
rated by the fact that his own Church of Smyrna did not now 
adopt the new polity ; for we have seen a that, upwards of a 

1 Euseb. iv. n ; iv. 19. Dr. Burton has well observed that Alexandria 
and Antioch were " the hotbeds from which nearly all the mischief arose, 
which, under the name of philosophy, inundated the Church in the second 
century." — Lectures, vol. ii., p. 103. 

2 Period ii., sec. iii., chap, v., pp. 470, 471. 



POLYCARP'S VISIT TO ROME. 507 

quarter of a century after his demise, it still continued under 
presbyterial government. Irenaeus was well acquainted with 
the circumstances which occasioned this extraordinary visit of 
Polycarp to Rome ; but had he not come into collision with 
the pastor of the great city in the controversy relating to the 
Paschal Feast, we would never have heard of its occurrence. 
Even when he mentions it, he observes a mysterious silence 
as to its main design. The Paschal question awakened little 
interest in the days of Polycarp, and among the topics which 
he discussed with Anicetus when at Rome, it occupied a 
subordinate position. 1 " When," says Irenaeus, " the most 
blessed Polycarp came to Rome in the days of Anicetus, and 
when as to certain other matters they had a little controversy, 
they were immediately agreed on this point (of the Pass- 
over) without any disputation." 2 What the " certain other 
matters " were which created the chief dissatisfaction, we 
are left obscurely to conjecture ; but they must have been 
of no ordinary consequence, when so eminent a minister as 
Polycarp, now verging on eighty years of age, felt it neces- 
sary to make a lengthened journey by sea and land with 
a view to their adjustment. He considered that Anicetus 
was at least influentially connected with arrangements which 
he deemed objectionable ; and felt that he could obtain their 
modification or abandonment only by a personal conference 
with the Roman pastor. And intimations are not wanting 
that he was doubtful whether Anicetus would treat with him 
as his ecclesiastical peer, for he seems to have been in some 
degree appeased when the bishop of the capital permitted him 
to preside in the Church at the celebration of the Eucharist. 8 
This, certainly, was no extraordinary piece of condescension ; 
as Polycarp, on various grounds, was entitled to take prece- 
dence of his Roman brother ; 4 and the reception given to the 

1 " Quanquam sunt inter scriptores ecclesiasticos qui putaverint Poly- 
carpum Roman venisse, ut quaereret de festo paschatis : ex his Irenaei ver- 
bis luce clarius elucet, ob alias causas Ioannis apostoli discipulum Roman 
profectum esse." — Stzeren's Iren&us, i., p. 826, note. 

2 Euseb. v. 24. s Stieren's " Irenasus," i. 827. 
* First, as his senior ; and secondly, as a disciple of the apostles. 



508 PRELACY EASILY INTRODUCED. 

" apostolic presbyter" was only what might have fairly been 
expected in the way of ministerial courtesy. 1 Why has it then 
been mentioned as an exhibition of the episcopal humility of 
Anicetus ? Obviously because he had been previously making 
some arrogant assumptions. He had been, probably, presum- 
ing on his position as a pastor of the "new order," and his 
bearing had been so offensive that Polycarp had been com- 
missioned to visit him on an errand of expostulation. But by 
prudently paying marked deference to the aged stranger, and 
by giving a plausible account of some proceedings which had 
awakened anxiety, he succeeded in quieting his apprehensions. 
That the presiding minister of the Church of Smyrna was en- 
gaged in some such delicate mission is all but certain, as the 
design of the journey would not otherwise have been involved 
in so profound secrecy. The very fact of its occurrence is 
first noticed forty years afterward, when the haughty behavior 
of another bishop of Rome provoked Irenaeus to call up cer- 
tain unwelcome reminiscences which it suggested. 

Though the journey of Polycarp betokens that he was deep- 
ly dissatisfied with something going forward in the great me- 
tropolis, we can only guess at its design and its results ; and 
it is now impossible to ascertain whether the alterations intro- 
duced there encountered any very formidable opposition ; but 
it is by no means improbable that they were effected without 
much difficulty. The disorders of the Church imperatively 
called for some strong remedy ; and it occurred to not a few 
that a distracted presbytery, under the presidency of a feeble 
old man, was ill fitted to meet the emergency. They accord- 
ingly proposed to strengthen the executive government by 
providing for the appointment of a more efficient moderator, 
and by arming him with additional authority. The people 
were gratified by the change, for, though in Rome and some 
other great cities, where its effects were felt most sensibly, 
they met before this time in separate congregations, they had 

1 It was a standing rule of the Church that a strange bishop was to be 
thus treated. See " Didascalia," by Piatt, p. 97. See also 19th canon of 
the Council of Aries, held a.d. 314. 






PRELACY GRADUALLY ESTABLISHED. 509 

still much united intercourse ; and as, on such occasions, their 
edification depended mainly on the gifts of the chairman of 
the eldership, they gladly joined in advancing the best preach- 
er in the presbytery to the office of president. At this par- 
ticular crisis the alteration was not unacceptable to the elders 
themselves. To those of them who were in the decline of 
life, there was nothing very inviting in the prospect of occu- 
pying the most prominent position in a Church threatened by 
persecution and torn by divisions, so that they were not un- 
willing to waive any claim to the presidency which their seni- 
ority implied ; whilst the more vigorous, sanguine, and aspir- 
ing hailed an arrangement which promised at no distant day 
to place one of themselves in a position of greatly increased 
dignity and influence. All were agreed that the times de- 
manded the appointment of the ablest member of presbytery 
as moderator; and none, perhaps, foresaw the danger of add- 
ing permanently to the prerogatives of so potent a chairman. 
It was never anticipated that the day was to come when the 
new law would be regarded as any other than a human con- 
trivance ; and when the bishops and their adherents would 
contend that the presbyters, under no circumstances whatever, 
had a right to reassume that power which they now surren- 
dered. The result, however, has demonstrated the folly of 
human wisdom. The prelates, originally designed to save the 
Church from heresy, became themselves at length the abettors 
of false doctrine ; and whilst they grievously abused the influ- 
ence with which they were entrusted, they had the temerity 
to maintain that they still continued to be exclusively the 
fountains of spiritual authority. 

Prelacy was not set up at once in the plenitude of its power. 
Neither was the system simultaneously adopted by Christians 
all over the world. Jerome informs us that it was established 
" by little and little "; 1 and he thus refers, as well to its grad- 
ual spread, as to the almost imperceptible growth of its pre- 
tensions. We have shown in a preceding chapter, 2 that in 

1 " Paulatim vero, ut dissensionum plantaria evellerentur, ad unum ora- 
nem solicitudinem esse delatam." — Cotmnent. in Tit. 

2 Period ii., sec. Hi., chap, v., pp. 464, 466, 470, 473. 



510 REMNANTS OF PRESBYTERIANISM. 

various cities, such as Smyrna, Caesarea, and Jerusalem, the 
senior presbyter continued to be the president till the close 
of the second century ; and there the Church was meanwhile 
governed by " the common council of the presbyters." J In 
many places, even at a much later period, the episcopal sys- 
tem was still unknown. 3 But its advocates were active and 
influential, and they continued to make steady progress. The 
consolidation of the Catholic system contributed vastly to its 
advancement. The leading features of this system are now 
to be illustrated. 

1 But the presiding elders now began generally to be called bishops. 

2 Thus, though, as we may infer from the testimony of Tertullian, Chris- 
tianity was planted in North Britain in the second century, the universal 
tradition is that originally there were no bishops in that country. According 
to an ancient MS. belonging to the former bishops of St. Andrews, and to 
be found in the " Life of William Wishart," one of their number who lived 
in the thirteenth century, the first bishop created in Scotland was elected in 
A.D. 270. See Jamieson's " Culdees," pp. 100, 101. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CATHOLIC SYSTEM. 

THE word catholic, which signifies universal or general, 
came into use toward the end of the second century. Its in- 
troduction indicates a new phase in the history of the ecclesi- 
astical community. For upwards of a hundred years after its 
formation, the Church presented the appearance of one great 
and harmonious brotherhood, as false teachers had hitherto 
failed to create any considerable diversity of sentiment ; but 
when many of the literati began to embrace the Gospel, the 
influence of elements of discord soon became obvious. These 
converts attempted to graft their philosophical theories on 
Christianity ; not a few of the more unstable of the brethren, 
captivated by their ingenuity and eloquence, were tempted to 
adopt their views ; and though the great mass of the disciples 
repudiated their adulterations of the truth, the Christian com- 
monwealth was distracted and divided. Those who banded 
themselves together to maintain the unity of the Church were 
soon known by the designation of Catholics. " After the days 
of the apostles," says one of the fathers, " when heresies had 
burst forth, and were striving under various names to tear 
piecemeal and divide the Dove and the Queen of God, 1 did not 
the apostolic people require a name of their own whereby to 
mark the unity of those that were uncorrupted ? . . . . There- 

1 Song of Solomon, vi. 9 ; Ps. xlv. 9. " Sub Apostolis nemo Catholicus 

vocabatur Cum post Apostolos haereses extitissent, diversisque nomini- 

bus columbam Dei atque reginam lacerare per partes et scindere niterentur ; 
nonne cognomen suum ecclesia postulabat, quag incorrupti populi distingueret 
unitatem ? " 

(5ii) 



512 THE CATHOLIC SYSTEM. 

fore our people, when named Catholic, are separated by this 
title from those denominated heretics." ' 

The Catholic system, being an integral portion of the policy 
which invested the presiding elder with additional authority, 
rose contemporaneously with Prelacy. When Gnosticism was 
spreading so rapidly, and creating so much scandal and confu- 
sion, schism upon schism appeared unavoidable. How was the 
Church to be kept from going to pieces ? How could its unity 
be best conserved ? How could it contend most successfully 
against its subtle and restless disturbers? Such were the prob- 
lems which occupied the attention of its leading ministers. 
It was thought that all these difficulties were solved by the 
adoption of the Catholic system. Were the Church, it was 
said, to place more power in the hands of individuals, and to 
consolidate its influence, it could bear down more effectively 
on the errorists. Every chief pastor of the Catholic Church 
was the symbol of the unity of his own ecclesiastical district ; 
and the associated bishops represented the unity of the whole 
body of the faithful. According to the Catholic system, when 
strictly carried out, every individual excommunicated by one 
bishop was excommunicated by all, so that when a heresiarch 
was excluded from fellowship in one city, he could not be re- 
ceived elsewhere. The visible unity of the Church was the great 
principle which the Catholic system sought to realize. "The 
Church," says Cyprian, "which is catholic and one, is not sepa- 
rated or divided, but is in truth connected and joined together 
by the cement of bishops mutually cleaving to each other." 2 

The funds of the Church were placed very early in the hands 
of the president of the presbytery ; 3 and though they may not 
have been at his absolute disposal, he soon found means of sus- 
taining his authority by means of his monetary influence. But 
the power which he possessed, as the recognized centre of 
ecclesiastical unity, to prevent any of his elders or deacons from 
performing any official act of which he disapproved, constituted 

1 Pacian, " Epist. to Sympronian," sees. 5 and 8. Pacian was bishop of 
Barcelona. He died A.D. 392. 
3 Epist. lxix., 265, 266. 8 Justin Martyr, Opera, p. 99. 



THE BISHOP DISPENSED BAPTISM. 513 

one of the essential features of the Catholic system. "The 
right to administer baptism," says Tertullian, " belongs to the 
chief priest — that is, the bishop ; then to the presbyters and 
the deacons, 1 yet not without the authority of the bishop, for 
the honor of the Church, which being preserved, peace is pre- 
served." a Here, the origin of Catholicism is pretty distinctly 
indicated ; for the prerogatives of the bishop are described, 
not as matters of divine right, but of ecclesiastical arrangement. 3 
They were given to him u for the honor of the Church," that 
peace might be preserved when heretics began to cause divis- 
ions. 

Though the bishop could give permission to others to cele- 
brate divine ordinances, he was himself their chief administra- 
tor. He was generally the only preacher ; he usually dispensed 
baptism ; 4 and he presided at the observance of the Eucharist. 
At Rome, where the Catholic system was maintained most 
scrupulously, his presence was considered necessary to the due 
consecration of the elements. Hence, at one time, the sacra- 
mental symbols were carried from the cathedral church to all 
the places of Christian worship throughout the city. 5 With 
such minute care did the Roman chief pastor endeavor to dis- 
seminate the doctrine that whoever was not in communion 
with the bishop was out of the Church. 

The establishment of a close connection, between certain 

1 According to the " Apostolic Constitutions " the deacons were not at lib- 
erty to baptize. Lib. viii., c. 28. 

2 " De Baptismo," c. 17. 

8 Tertullian thus corroborates the testimony of Jerome. 

4 " In the sixth century the clergy of Italy complained to Justinian that, 
owing to the vacancy of sees, 'an immense multitude of people died without 
baptism.' Even so late as the time of Hincmar (the ninth century) baptisms 
were still performed by the bishop, and they alone were considered canoni- 
cal" — Pahner's Episcopacy Vindicated, p. 35, note. 

6 " It appears to have been the custom at Rome and other places to send 
from the cathedral church the bread consecrated to the several parish 
churches." — Stillingfieef s Irenicum, pp. 369, 370. "Thomassinus shows 
that in the fifth century the presbyters of Rome did not consecrate the 
Eucharist in their respective churches, but it was sent to them from the 
principal church." — Palmer, p. 35, note. 

33 



514 THE CATHOLIC SYSTEM. 

large Christian associations and the smaller societies around 
them, constituted the next link in the organization of the 
Catholic system. These communities, being generally related 
as mother and daughter churches, were already prepared to 
adapt themselves to the new type of ecclesiastical polity. The 
apostles, or their immediate disciples, had founded congrega- 
tions in most of the great cities of the Empire ; and every so- 
ciety thus instituted, now distinguished by the designation of 
the principal ' or apostolic Church, became a centre of ecclesi- 
astical unity. Its presiding minister sent the Eucharist to the 
teachers of the little flocks in his vicinity, to signify that he 
acknowledged them as brethren ; 2 and every pastor who thus 
enjoyed communion with the principal Church was recognized 
as a Catholic bishop. This parent establishment was considered 
a bulwark which protected all the Christian communities sur- 
rounding it from heresy, and they were consequently expected 
to be guided by its traditions. " It is manifest," says Tertul- 
lian, " that all doctrine, which agrees with these apostolic 
Churches, THE WOMBS AND ORIGINALS OF THE FAITH, 3 must 
be accounted true, as without doubt containing that which the 
Churches have received from the apostles, the apostles from 
Christ, Christ from God ; and that all other doctrine must be 
judged at once to be false, which savors of things contrary to 
the truth of the Churches, and of the apostles, and of Christ, 

and of God Go through the apostolic Churches, in which 

the very seats of the apostles, at this very day, preside over their 
own places* in which their own authentic writings are read, 
speaking with the voice of each, and making the face of each 

1 Thus Rome it called the " principal Church " in regard to Carthage. 
Cyprian, Epist. lv., p. 183. 

2 Tertullian refers to this when he says, " Una omnes probant unitate 
communicatio pads et appellatio fraternitatis, et contesseratio hospitalitatis." 
— De Prascrip., c. 20. 

3 " Ecclesiis apostolicis matricibus et originalibus fidei." See also Tertul- 
lian against Marcion (book iv., c. 35) where Jerusalem is called "the womb 
of religion" 

4 " Cathedrae apostolorum suis locis praesident." These words clearly in- 
dicate that the Churches founded by the apostles were now recognized as 
centres of unity for the surrounding Christian communities. 



UNITY OF CHRISTIAN SOCIETIES. 5 I 5 

present to the eye. Is Achaia near to you ? You have Corinth. 
If you are not far from Macedonia, you have Philippi, you have 
the Thessalonians. 1 If you can travel into Asia, you have Ephe- 
sus. But if you are near to Italy you have Rome, where we 
also have an authority close at hand." 2 

But the Catholic system was not yet complete. In every 
congregation the bishop or pastor was the centre of unity, 
and in every district the principal or apostolic Church bound 
together the smaller Christian societies ; but how were the 
apostolic Churches themselves to be united ? This question 
did not long remain without a solution. 3 Had the Church of 
Jerusalem, when the Catholic system was first organized, still 
occupied its ancient position, it might have established a bet- 
ter title to precedence than any other ecclesiastical commu- 
nity in existence. It had been, beyond all controversy, the 
mother Church of Christendom. But it had been recently 
dissolved, and a new society, composed, to a great extent, of 
new members, was now in process of formation in the new 
city of Aelia. Meanwhile the Church of Rome had been 
rapidly acquiring strength, and its connection with the seat of 
government pointed it out as the appropriate head of the 

1 It is worthy of note that, in the second canonical epistle ever written by 
Paul, he warns this Church of the coming of the Man of Sin (2 Thess. ii. 3). 
It appears from the text that thus early it was identified with the system 
which resulted in the establishment of the Papacy. It is equally remarka- 
ble that the Bishop of Thessalonica was the first Papal Vicar ever appoint- 
ed. See Bower's " History of the Popes," Dam asus, thirty-sixth bishop; 
and Gieseler, i. 264. 

2 "De Prasscrip." xxi., xxxvi. 

3 The tendency of " Church principles " to terminate in the recognition 
of a universal bishop has appeared in modern as well as in ancient times'. 
" What other step," says a noble author, " remains to stand between those 
who hold those principles and Rome ? Only one : that the priesthood so 
constituted, invested with such powers, is organized under one head — a 

Pope The space to be traversed in arriving at it is so narrow, and 

so unimpeded by any positive barrier, either of logic or of feeling, that the 
slightest influence of sentiment or imagination, of weakness or of supersti- 
tion, is sufficient to draw men across." — Letter from the Duke of Argyll to 
the Bishop of Oxford, p. 23. London, Moxon, 1851. 



$l6 THE CENTRE OF CATHOLIC UNITY. 

Catholic confederation. 1 If the greatest convenience of the 
greatest number of Churches were to be taken into account, 
it had claims of peculiar potency, for it was easily accessible 
by sea or land from all parts of the Empire, and it had facili- 
ties for keeping up communication with, the provinces to 
which no other society could pretend. Nor were these its 
only recommendations. It had, as was alleged, been watered 
by the ministry of two or three Q of the apostles, so that, even 
as an apostolic Church, it had high pretensions. In addition 
to all this, it had, more than once, sustained with extraor- 
dinary constancy the first and fiercest brunt of persecution ; 
and if its members had so signalized themselves in the army 
of martyrs, why should not its bishop lead the van of the 
Catholic Church ? Such considerations urged in favor of a 
community already distinguished by its wealth, as well as by 
its charity, were amply sufficient to establish its claim as the 
centre of Catholic unity. If the arrangement was concocted 
in Rome itself, they must have been felt to be irresistible. 
Hence Irenaeus, writing about A.D. 180, speaks of it even then 
as the recognized head of the Churches of the Empire. "To 
this Church," says he, " because it is more potentially princi- 
pal, it is necessary that every Catholic Church should go, as 
in it the apostolic tradition has by the Catholics been always 
preserved." 3 

Many Protestant writers have attempted to explain away 
the meaning of this remarkable passage, but the candid stu- 
dent of history is bound to listen respectfully to its testimony. 
When we assign to the words of Irenaeus all the significance 
of which they are susceptible, they only attest the fact that, 
in the latter half of the second century, the Church of Rome 
was acknowledged by one who had been specially indebted to 
its bounty, as the most potent of all the apostolic Churches. 
And in the same place the grounds of its pre-eminence are 

1 This is the reason assigned for the Primacy of Rome in the 28th Canon 
of the Council of Chalcedon, held A.D. 451. 

2 Tertullian says that John, as well as Peter and Paul, had been in Rome. 
" De Prasscrip." xxxvi. 

3 "Contra Haeres," iii., c. iii., § 2. 



THE BISHOP OF ROME. 5 1? 

enumerated pretty fully by the pastor of Lyons. It was the 
most ancient Church in the West of Europe ; it was also the 
most populous ; like a city set upon a hill, it was known to 
all ; and it was reputed, by its admirers, to have had for its 
founders the most illustrious of the inspired heralds of the 
cross, the apostle of the Gentiles, and the apostle of the cir- 
cumcision. 1 It was more " potentially principal," because it 
was itself the principal of the apostolic or principal Churches. 

It has been already stated that every principal bishop, 2 or 
presiding minister of an apostolic Church, sent the Eucharist 
to the pastors around him as a pledge of their ecclesiastical 
fellowship ; and the bishop of Rome kept up intercourse with 
the other bishops of the apostolic Churches by transmitting 
to them the same symbol of catholicity. 3 The sacred ele- 
ments were conveyed by confidential churchmen, who served, 
at the same time, as channels of communication between the 
great prelate and the more influential of his brethren. By 
this means the communion of the whole Catholic Church was 
constantly maintained. 

When the Catholic system was set up, and the bishop of 
Rome recognized as its Head, he was not supposed to possess, 
in his new position, any arbitrary or despotic authority. He 
was simply understood to hold among pastors the place which 
had previously been occupied by the senior elder in the pres- 
bytery — that is, he was the president or moderator. The the- 
oretical parity of all bishops, the chief pastor of Rome included, 
was a principle long jealously asserted. 4 But the prelate of 
the capital was the individual to whom other bishops ad- 
dressed themselves respecting all matters affecting the general 

1 " Maximae et antiquissimse et omnibus cognitae, a gloriosissimis duobus 
apostolis Petro et Paulo Romas fundatas et constitutae ecclesias." — Irenceus, 
ili., c. iii., § 2. 

2 We find this designation in some of the early canons. See Bunsen's 
" Hippolytus," iii. 50. 

3 Euseb. v. 24. 

4 See the statement of Cyprian in the Council of Carthage, " Opera," 
p. 597; and Jerome, in his Epistle to Evangelus, " Opera," iv., secund. 
pars, p. 803. 



5l8 ROME AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

interests of the ecclesiastical community ; he collected their 
sentiments ; and he announced the decisions of their united 
wisdom. It was, however, scarcely possible for an official in 
his circumstances either to satisfy all parties or to keep within 
the limits of his legitimate power. When his personal feel- 
ings were known to run strongly in a particular channel, the 
minority, to whom he was opposed, at least suspected him of 
attempting domination. Hence it was that by those who 
were discontented with his policy he was tauntingly designa- 
ted, as early as the beginning of the third century, The 
Supreme Pontiff, and The Bishop of Bishops. 1 These titles 
can not be gravely quoted as proofs of the existence of the 
claims which they indicate ; for they were employed ironically 
by malcontents who wished thus either to impeach his parti- 
ality, or to condemn his interference. But they supply clear 
evidence that his growing influence was beginning to be for- 
midable, and that he already stood at the head of the minis- 
ters of Christendom. 

The preceding statements enable us to understand why the 
interests of Rome and of the Catholic Church have always 
been identified. The metropolis of Italy has, in fact, from the 
beginning been the heart of the Catholic system. In ancient 
times Roman statesmen were noted for their skill in fitting up 
the machinery of political government : Roman churchmen 
have labored no less successfully in the department of eccle- 
siastical organization. The Catholic system is a wonderful 
specimen of constructive ability ; and the same city which 
produced Prelacy, also gave birth, about the same time, to 
this masterpiece of human contrivance. This fact may be 
established, as well by other evidences, as by the positive testi- 
mony of Cyprian. The bishop of Carthage, who flourished 
only about a century after it appeared, was connected with 
that quarter of the Church in which it originated. We can 
not, therefore, reasonably reject the depositions of so com- 

1 " Pontifex scilicet Maximus, quod est episcopus episcoporum, edicit : 
Ego et mcechise et fornicationis delicta pcenitentia functis dimitto." — Ter- 
tullian, De Pudicitia, c. I. " Neque enim quisquam nostrum episcopum se 
esse episcoporum constituit." — Cyprian, Con. Car., Opera, 597. 



THE WORD "CATHOLIC." 519 

petent a witness, more especially when he speaks so frequently 
and so confidently of its source. When he describes the 
Roman bishopric as " the root and womb of the Catholic 
Churchy" 1 his language admits of no second interpretation. 
He was well aware that the Church of Jerusalem was the root 
and womb of all the apostolic Churches ; and when he em- 
ploys such phraseology, he refers to some new phase of Chris- 
tianity which had originated in the capital of the Empire. In 
another place he speaks of " the see of Peter, and the principal 
Church, whence the unity of the priesthood took its rise." 2 Such 
statements shut us up to the conclusion that Rome was the 
source and centre from which Catholicism radiated. 

This system was only gradually developed, and nearly half 
a century elapsed before it acquired such maturity that it at- 
tained a distinctive designation. 3 But as it was currently 
believed to be admirably adapted to the exigencies of the 
Church, it spread with much rapidity; and in less than a hun- 
dred years after its rise, its influence may be traced in almost 
all parts of the Empire. We thus explain a historical phe- 
nomenon which is otherwise unaccountable. Toward the 
close of the second and throughout the whole of the third 
century, ecclesiastical writers connected with various and dis- 
tant provinces refer with peculiar respect to the Apostle Peter, 

1 "Ecclesiae catholicse radicem et matricem." — Epist. xlv., p. 133. 

2 " Navigare audent et ad Petri cathedram atque ad ecclesiam principalem 
unde unitas sacerdotalis exorta est." — Epist. lv., p. 183. " Nam Petro primum 
Dominus, super quern asdificavit ecclesiam, et unde unitatis originem instf- 
tuit et ostendit, potestatem istam dedit." — Epist. lxxiii., p. 280. See also 
Epist. Ixx. — " Una ecclesia a Christo Domino super Petrum origine uni- 
tatis et ratione fundata." 

3 The word catholic first occurs in the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna, 
giving an account of the martyrdom of Polycarp, but that letter was not 
written until at least twenty years after the event which it records. See 
Period ii„ sec. i., chap, iv., p. 306. It is remarkable that the word is not 
found in Irenaeus, or used by his Latin interpreter. The pastor of Lyons, 
however, recognizes the distinction indicated by the word catholic, for he 
speaks of the ecclesiastici, or churchmen, and of those " qui sunt undique." 
Stieren's " Irenasus," i. 430, 502, note. The word catholic was quite cur- 
rent in the time of Tertullian. 



520 THE HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC LEAGUE. 

and even appeal to Scripture ' with a view to his exaltation. 
Their misinterpretations of the Word reveal an extreme anx- 
iety to obtain something like an inspired warrant for their 
Catholicism. The visible unity of the Church was deemed by 
them essential to its very existence, and the Roman see was 
the actual key-stone of the Catholic structure. Hence every 
friend of orthodoxy imagined it to be, as well his duty as his 
interest, to uphold the claims of the supposed representative 
of Peter, and thus to maintain the cause of ecclesiastical unity. 
It was to be anticipated under such circumstances that Script- 
ure would be miserably perverted, and that the see, which 
was believed to possess as its heritage the prerogatives of the 
apostle of the circumcision, would be the subject of extrava- 
gant laudation. * 

Ambition has been often represented as the great principle 
which guided the policy of the early Roman bishops ; but 
there is no evidence that, as a class, they were inferior in piety 
to other churchmen ; and the readiness with which some of 
them suffered for the faith attests their Christian sincerity and 
resolution. Ambition soon began to operate ; but their ele- 
vation was not so much the result of any deep-laid scheme for 
their aggrandizement, as of a series of circumstances pushing 
them into prominence, and placing them in a most influential 
position. The efforts of heretics to create division led to a 
reaction, and tempted the Church to adopt arrangements for 
preserving union by which its liberties were eventually com- 
promised. The bishop of Rome found himself almost imme- 
diately at the head of the Catholic league ; and, before the 
close of the second century, he was acknowledged as the chief 
pastor of Christendom. About that time we see him writing 
letters to some of the most distinguished bishops of the East, 2 

1 Particularly Matt. xvi. 18. Clemens Alexandrinus says that our Lord 
baptized Peter only, and that Peter then baptized other apostles. See 
Kaye's " Clement," p. 442 ; and Bunsen's " Analecta Antenic," i. p. 317. 
See also Origen, "Opera," ii. 245 ; and Firmilian's "Epistle." 

2 Even Polycrates of Ephesus admits that he had been requested by Vic- 
tor to convene a synod. Euseb. v. 24. About sixty years afterward Cyprian 
writes to Stephen of Rome requesting him to send letters into Gaul that 



THE THEORY OF CATHOLICISM. 521 

directing them to call councils ; and it does not appear that 
his epistles were deemed unwarranted or officious. Unity of 
doctrine was speedily connected with unity of discipline, and 
an opinion gradually prevailed that the Church Catholic 
should exhibit universal uniformity. When Victor differed 
from the Asiatic bishops relative to the mode of observing 
the Paschal festival, he was only seeking to realize the idea of 
unity ; and, as the Head of the Catholic Church, he might 
have carried out against them his threat of excommunication, 
had he not in this particular case been moving in advance of 
public opinion. When Stephen, sixty years afterward, dis- 
puted with Cyprian and others concerning the rebaptism of 
heretics, he was still endeavoring to work out the same unity ; 
and the bishop of Carthage found himself involved in contra- 
dictions when he proceeded at once to assert his independence, 
and to concede to the see of Peter the honor which, as he ad- 
mitted, it could legitimately challenge. 1 

The theory of Catholicism is based on principles thoroughly 
fallacious. Assuming that visible unity in one organization is 
essential to the Church on earth, it sanctions the startling in- 
ference that whoever is not connected with a certain ecclesi- 
astical society must be out of the pale of salvation. The 
most grinding spiritual tyranny ever known has been erected 
on this foundation. And yet how hollow is the whole system ! 
It is no more necessary that all the children of God in this 
world should belong to the same visible Church than that all 
the children of men should be connected with the same earthly 
monarchy. All believers are " one in Christ "; they have all 
" one Lord, one faith, one baptism "; but " the kingdom of 
God cometh not with observation," and the unity of the saints 
on earth can be discerned only by the eye of Omniscience. 

Marcianus the bishop, who had sided with Novatian, " being excommu- 
nicated, another may be substituted in his room." — Cyprian, Epist. lxvii., 
pp. 248, 249. 

1 Thus he says : "For neither did Peter, whom the Lord chose first, and 
on whom He built His Church, when Paul afterward disputed with him 
about circumcision, claim or assume anything insolently and arrogantly to 
himself, so as to say that he held the primacy." — Epist. lxxi., p. 273. 



522 THE ROMAN BABEL. 

They are all sustained by the same living bread which cometh 
down from heaven, but they may receive their spiritual pro- 
vision as members of ten thousand separated Churches. All 
who truly love the Saviour are united to Him by a link which 
can never be broken ; and no ecclesiastical barrier can either 
exclude them from His presence here, or shut them out from 
His fellowship hereafter. But a number of men may as well 
propose to appropriate all the light of the sun or all the winds 
of heaven, as attempt to form themselves into a privileged 
society with a monopoly of the means of salvation. 

The Church of Rome is understood to be the spiritual Baby- 
lon of the Apocalypse, and yet one point of correspondence 
between the type and the antitype has been hitherto over- 
looked. The great city of Babylon commenced with the erec- 
tion of Babel, and the builders said, " Go to, let us build us a 
city, and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven, and let 
us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face 
of the whole earth." ' Civil unity was avowedly the end de- 
signed by these architects. Amongst other purposes contem- 
plated by the famous tower, it appears to have been intended 
to serve as a centre of Catholicity — a great rallying point or 
landmark — by which every citizen might be guided home- 
wards when he lost his way in the plain of Shinar. In the 
" Pastor of Hermas," perhaps the first work written in Rome 
after the establishment of Prelacy, the Church is described 
under the similitude of a tower ! 2 When Hyginus " estab- 
lished the gradations, ' the hierarchy at once assumed that ap- 
pearance. And the see of Peter, the centre of Catholic unity, 
was to be the great spiritual landmark to guide the steps of 
all true churchmen. The ecclesiastical builders prospered for 
a time ; but when Constantine had finished a new metropolis 
in the East, some symptoms of disunion revealed themselves. 
When the Empire was afterward divided, jealousies increased ; 
the builders could not understand one another's speech ; and 
the Church at length witnessed the great schism of the Greeks 
and the Latins. In due time the Reformation interfered still 

1 Gen. xi. 4. 2 Book i., vision iii., § 3, etc. 






THE ROMAN BABEL. 523 

more vexatiously with the building of the ecclesiastical Babel. 
But this more recent schism has given a mighty impulse to 
the cause of freedom, of civilization, and of truth ; for the 
Protestants, scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth, 
have been spreading far and wide the light of the Gospel. 
The builders of Babel still continue their work, but their 
boasted unity is gone forever ; and now, with the exception 
of their political manoeuvring, their highest achievements are 
literally in the department of stone and mortar. They may 
found costly edifices, and erect spires pointing, like the tower 
of Babel, to the skies ; but they can no longer reasonably 
hope to bind together the liberated nations with the chains of 
a gigantic despotism, or induce worshippers of all kindreds 
and tongues to adopt the one dead language of Latin super- 
stition. The signs of the times indicate that the remnant of 
the Catholic workmen must soon " leave off to build the city." 
The final overthrow of the mystical Babylon will usher in the 
millennium of the Church, and the present success of Protes- 
tant missions is premonitory of the approaching doom of Rom- 
ish ritualism. It is written : " I saw another angel fly in the 
midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto 
them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, 
and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, 
and give glory to him ; for the hour of his judgment is come : 
and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, 
and the fountains of waters. And there followed another 
angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, be- 
cause she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of 
her fornication." x v ' 

1 Rev. xiv. 6-8. 



CHAPTER IX. 

PRIMITIVE EPISCOPACY AND PRESBYTERIAN ORDINATION. 

It has been already stated that, except in a few great cities 
where there were several Christian congregations, the intro- 
duction of Episcopacy produced a very slight change in the 
appearance of the ecclesiastical community. In towns and 
villages, where the disciples constituted but a single flock, 
they had commonly only one teaching elder ; and as, in ac- 
cordance with apostolic rule, 1 this laborer in the word and 
doctrine was deemed worthy of double honor, he was already 
the most prominent and influential member of the brother- 
hood. The new arrangement merely clothed him with the 
name of bishop, and somewhat augmented his authority. Hav- 
ing the funds of the Church at his disposal, he had special influ- 
ence ; and though he could not well act without the sanction 
of his elders, he could easily contrive to negative any of their 
resolutions which did not meet his approval. 

It is abundantly clear that this primitive dignitary was or- 
dinarily the pastor of only a single congregation. " If, before 
the multitude increase, there be a place having a few faithful 
men in it, to the extent of twelve, who are able to make a 
dedication to pious uses for a bishop, let them write to the 
Churches round about the place," says an ancient canon, " that 
three chosen men .... may come to examine with diligence 

him who has been thought worthy of this degree If he 

has not a wife, it is a good thing ; but if he has married a wife ? 
having children, let him abide with her, continuing steadfast 
in every doctrine, able to explain the Scriptures well." 2 This 
humble functionary was assisted in the management of his 

1 i Tim. v. 17. 2 See Bunsen's " Hippolytus," ii. 305, and iii. 35, 36, 
(524) 



PRIMITIVE EPISCOPACY. 525 

little flock by two or three elders. " If the bishop has at- 
tended to the knowledge and patience of the love of God," 
says another regulation, " let him ordain two presbyters, when 
he has examined them, or rather three." l The bishop, the 
elders, and the deacons, all assembled in one place every 
Lord's day for congregational worship. An old ecclesiastical 
law accordingly prescribes the following arrangement : " Let 
the seat of the bishop be placed in the midst, and let the 
presbyters sit on each side of him, and let the deacons stand 
by them, .... and let it be their care that the people sit 
with all quietness and order in the other part of the Church." 2 
Thus, except in the case of a few large towns, the primitive 
bishop was simply the parochial minister. 

Toward the close of the second century, the bishop and the 
teacher were designations of the same import. Speaking of 
those at the head of the Churches, Irenaeus describes them as 
distinguished by their superior or inferior ability in sermoniz- 
ing ; 3 and a well-informed writer, who flourished as late as the 
fourth century, mentions preaching as the bishop's peculiar 
function. 4 In the apostolic age every one who had popular 
gifts was permitted to edify the congregation by their exer- 
cise ; 5 and, long afterward, any elder who was qualified to 
speak in the Church, was at liberty to address his fellow-wor- 
shippers. When Origen, prior to his ordination as a presbyter, 
ventured to expound the Scriptures publicly at the request of 
the bishops of Palestine, Demetrius, his own ecclesiastical supe- 
rior, denounced his conduct as irregular ; but the parties by 
whom the learned Alexandrian had been invited to lecture, 
boldly vindicated the proceeding. He (Demetrius) has as- 
serted, said they, " that this was never before either heard or 
done, that laymen should deliver discourses in the presence of 
bishops. We know not how it happens that he is here evi- 
dently so far from the truth. For, indeed, wherever there are 

1 Bunsen's " Hippolytus," iii. 36. a " Apost. Constit.,'" ii. 57. 

3 Kal ovts 6 navv dwarbq kv Xdyw tcjv kv rdlq ekkXtjolciic 7rpoeoTa)TG)v, erspa tovtuv 
kpei (ovdelg yap virep rbv did&GKaXov) ovts 6 acdevijc kv rcJ 2.6yo) tkarrLau rrp) napa- 
doaiv. — Contra Hczreses, i., c. 10, § 2. 

4 " Optatus adv. Donat.," vii. 6. 6 1 Cor. xiv. 5, 24, 26, 31. 



526 PRIMITIVE EPISCOPACY. 

found those qualified to benefit the brethren, they are ex- 
horted by the holy bishops to address the people." ' But still 
the bishop himself was the stated and ordinary preacher ; and 
when he was sick or absent, the flock could seldom expect a 
sermon. When present, he always administered the Lord's. 
Supper with his own hands, and dispensed in person the rite 
of baptism. He also occupied the chair at the meetings of 
the presbytery, and presided at the ordination of the elders 
and deacons of his congregation. 

Though Christians formed but a fraction, and often but a 
small fraction, of the population, their bishops were thickly 
planted. Thus Cenchrea, the port of Corinth, had an episco- 
pal overseer, 2 as well as Corinth itself ; the bishop of Portus 
and the bishop of Ostia were only two miles asunder ; 3 and of 
the eighty-seven bishops who met at Carthage, about A.D. 256, 
to discuss the question of the rebaptism of heretics, many, such 
as Mannulus, Polianus, Dativus, and Secundinus, 4 were located 
in small towns or villages. Though, probably, some of these 
pastors had not the care of more than twenty or thirty Chris- 
tian families, each had the same rank and authority as the 
bishop of Carthage. " It remains," said Cyprian at the open- 
ing of the council, " that we severally declare our opinion on 
this same subject, judging no one, nor depriving any one of 
the right of communion if he differ from us. For no one of 
us sets himself up as a bishop of bishops, or by tyrannical ter- 
ror forces his colleagues to a necessity of obeying; inasmuch 
as ^very bishop in the free use of his liberty and power has 
the right of forming his own judgment." In other quarters 
of the Church its episcopal guardians were equally numerous. 

1 Euseb. vi. 19. It is to be observed that these laymen, having the sanc- 
tion of the ecclesiastical authorities, were thus virtually licensed to preach. 

2 "Apost. Constit." vii. 46. There was a Church at Cenchrea in the 
time of the apostles. Rom. xvi. 1. Strabo calls Cenchrea a village, lib. 
viii. 

3 See Bingham, iii. 129. 

4 Cyprian, " Council of Carthage." Girba, Mileum, Badias, and Carpi, 
the sees of these bishops, were all small places, with a still smaller Chris- 
tian population. 

''Cyprian, "Council of Carthage." 



ECCLESIASTICS IN SECULAR OFFICES. 527 

Hence it is said of the famous Paul of Samosata, bishop of 
Antioch, that, to sustain his reputaion, he instigated " the 
bishops of the adjacent rural districts and towns " to praise 
him in their addresses to the people. 1 Even so late as the 
middle Of the third century, the jurisdiction of the greatest 
bishops was extremely limited. Cyprian of Carthage, in point 
of position the second prelate in the Western Church, pre- 
sided over only eight or nine presbyters ; 2 and Cornelius of 
Rome, confessedly the most influential ecclesiastic in Christen- 
dom, had the charge of probably not more than fourteen con- 
gregations. 3 

There were commonly several elders and deacons connected 
with every worshipping society ; and though these, as well as 
the bishops, began, toward the close of the second century, to 
be called clergymen, 4 and were thus taught to. cherish the idea 
that the Lord was their inheritance, it would be quite a mis- 
take to infer that they all subsisted on their official income. 
Not a few of them probably derived their maintenance from 
secular employments — some of them being tradesmen or arti- 
sans, and others in stations of greater prominence. Hyacin- 
thus, an elder of the Church of Rome in the time of bishop. 
Victor, appears to have held a situation in the Imperial house- 
hold, 5 and Tertullian complains that persons engaged in trades 
directly connected with the support of idolatry were promoted 
to ecclesiastical offices. 6 There was a time when even an 
apostle labored as a tent-maker, but as the hierarchical spirit 
acquired strength, and as the Church increased in wealth and 

1 Euseb. vii. 30. 

2 See Sage's "Vindication of the Principles of the Cyprianic Age," p. 
348. Edit., London, 1701. 

3 See Period ii., sec. i., chap, v., pp. 323, 324. 

4 See Bingham, i. 41, 43. 

5 Bunsen's " Hippolytus," i. 129 ; and Wordsworth, p. 257. It would 
appear from Celsus that not a few of the Church teachers in the second 
century supported themselves by manual labor. See Origen, Opera, i. 484. 

6 " Adleguntur in ordinem ecclesiasticum artifices idolorum." — De Idolol- 
atria, c. vii. Malchion, one of the presbyters of Antioch in the time of 
Paul of Samosata, was the head master of one of the principal schools in 
the place. Euseb. vii. 29. 



528 PRESBYTERIAN ORDINATION. 

numbers, there was a growing impression that all its office- 
bearers were degraded by such services. Cyprian speaks with 
extreme bitterness of a deceased presbyter who had appointed 
a brother elder the executor of his will, declaring that the 
clergy " should in no ways be called off from their holy minis- 
trations, nor tied down by secular troubles and business." ' 
But the common sense of the Church revolted against such 
high-flown spiritualism, as in many districts where the disciples 
were still few and indigent, they could not afford a suitable 
support for all intrusted with the performance of ecclesiasti- 
cal duties. Hence, before the recognition of Christianity by 
Constantine, even bishops in some countries were permitted 
by trade to eke out a scanty maintenance. " Let not bishops, 
elders, and deacons leave their places for the sake of trading," 
says a council held in the beginning of the fourth century, 
" nor travelling about the provinces let them be found dealing 
in fairs. However, to provide a living for themselves, let them 
send either a son or a freedman, or a servant, or a friend, or 
any one else ; and if they wish to trade, let them do so within 
their province." 2 

It is clear, from the New Testament, that, in the apostolic 
age, ordination was performed by " the laying on of the hands 
of the presbytery," and this mode of designation to the minis- 
try continued until some time in the third century. We are 
informed by the most learned of the fathers, in a passage to 
which the attention of the reader has already been invited, 3 that 
" even at Alexandria, from Mark the Evangelist until Heraclas 
and Dionysius the bishops, the presbyters were always in the 
habit of naming as bishop one chosen from among themselves 
and placed in a higher degree, in the same manner as the army 
make an emperor, or the deacons choose from among them- 
selves one whom they know to be industrious, and call him 
archdeacon." 4 As Jerome here mentions various important 

1 Cyprian, Epist. Ixvi., p. 246. In after-times the bishop himself was the 
grand-executor, having the charge of all the wills of his diocese ! 

2 Council of Elvira, a.d. 305, 18th canon. 

3 Period ii., sec. iii., chap, vi., p. 531. 

4 " Nam et Alexandria? a Marco Evangelista usque ad Heraclam et Dio- 



PRESBYTERIAN ORDINATION. 529 

facts of which we must have otherwise remained ignorant, 
and as this statement throws much light on the ecclesiastical 
history of the early Church, it is entitled to special notice. 

In the letter where this passage occurs the writer is extolling 
the dignity of presbyters, and endeavoring to show that they 
are very little inferior to bishops. He admits, indeed, that, 
in his own days, they had ceased to ordain ; but he intimates 
that they once possessed the right, and that they retained it 
in all its integrity till the former part of the preceding century. 
Some have thought that Jerome has here expressed himself 
indefinitely, and that he did not know the exact date at which 
the arrangement he describes ceased at Alexandria. But his 
testimony, when fairly analyzed, can scarcely be said to want 
precision ; for he obviously speaks of Heraclas and Dionysius 
as bishops by anticipation, alleging that a custom which an- 
ciently existed among the elders of the Egyptian metropolis 
was maintained until the time when these ecclesiastics, who 
afterward successively occupied the episcopal chair, sat to- 
gether in the presbytery. The period, thus pointed out, can 
be easily ascertained. Demetrius, bishop of Alexandria, after 
a long official life of forty-three years, died about A.D. 232, * and 
it is well known that Heraclas and Dionysius were both mem- 
bers of his presbytery toward the close of his episcopal ad- 
ministration. It was, therefore, shortly before his demise that 
the new system was introduced. In certain parts of the 
Church the arrangement mentioned by Jerome probably con- 
tinued somewhat longer. Cyprian hints at such cases of ex- 
ception when he says that in " almost all the provinces," 2 the 

nysium Episcopos, presbyteri semper unum ex se electum, in excelsiori 
gradu collocatum Episcopum nominabant ; quomodo si exercitus Impera- 
torem faciat ; aut Diaconi eligant de se quem industrium noverint, et Archi- 
diaconum vocent." — Epist., ad Evangelum. 

1 Heraclas now succeeded him. The immediate successor of Heraclas 
was Dionysius. 

2 " Apud nos quoque ttfer-e per provinciasuniversastenetur." — Cyprian, 
Epist. lxviii., p. 256. The arrangement of which Cyprian speaks was now, 
perhaps, pretty generally established in the West, but he may have under- 
stood, through his intercourse with Firmilian, that in some parts of the 
East a different usage still prevailed. 

34 



530 THE ELDERS MADE THE BISHOP. 

neighboring bishops assembled, on the occasion of an episco- 
pal vacancy, at the new election and ordination. In a few of 
the more considerable towns, the elders still continued to 
nominate their president. 

When the erudite Roman presbyter informs us that " even 
at Alexandria " ' .the elders formerly made their own bishop, 
his language implies that such a mode of creating the chief 
pastor was not confined to the Church of the metropolis of 
Egypt. It existed wherever Christianity had gained a foot- 
ing, and he mentions this particular see, partly, because of its 
importance — being, in point of rank, the second in the Em- 
pire — and partly, perhaps, because the remarkable circum- 
stances in its history, leading to the alteration which he speci- 
fies, were known to all his well-informed contemporaries. Je- 
rome does not say that the Alexandrian presbyters inducted 
their bishop by imposition of hands, 2 or set him apart to his 
office by any formal ordination. His words indicate that they 
did not recognize the necessity of any special right of investi- 
ture ; that they made the bishop by election ; and that, when 
once acknowledged as the object of their choice, he was at lib- 
erty to enter forthwith on the performance of his episcopal 
duties. When the Roman soldiers made an emperor they ap- 
pointed him by acclamation, and the cheers which issued from 
their ranks as he stood up before the legions and as he was 
clothed with the purple by one of themselves, constituted the 
ceremony of his inauguration. The ancient archdeacon was 

1 " Nam et Alexandriae." 

2 Eutychius, the celebrated patriarch of Alexandria who flourished in the 
beginning of the tenth century, makes this assertion. According to this 
writer there were originally twelve presbyters connected with the Alexan- 
drian Church ; and, when the patriarchate became vacant they elected " one 
of the twelve presbyters, on whose head the rcmaini?ig eleven laid hands, 
and blessed him and created him patriarch." — See the original passage in 
Seldens Works, ii., c. 421, 422; London, 1726. This passage furnishes a 
remarkable confirmation of the testimony of Jerome as to the fact that the 
Alexandrian presbyters originally made their bishops, but it is not very ac- 
curate as to the details. As to the laying on of hands it is not supported by 
Jerome. 






PRESBYTERIAN ORDINATION AT ROME. 53 1 

still one of the deacons j ' as he was the chief almoner of the 
Church, he required to possess tact, discernment, and activity ; 
and, in the fourth century, he was nominated to his office by 
his fellow-deacons. Jerome assures us that, until the time of 
Heraclas and Dionysius, the elders made a bishop just in the 
same way as in his own day the soldiers made an emperor, or 
as the deacons chose one whom they knew to be industrious, 
and made him an archdeacon. 

In one of the letters purporting to have been written by Pi- 
us, bishop of Rome, to Justus of Vienne, shortly after the mid- 
dle of the second century, there is a passage which supplies a 
singularly striking confirmation of the testimony of Jerome. 
Even admitting that the genuineness of this epistle can not be 
satisfactorily established, it must still be acknowledged to be 
a very ancient document, and were it of somewhat later date 
than its title indicates, it should at least be received as repre- 
senting the traditions which prevailed respecting the ecclesias- 
tical arrangements of an early antiquity. In this communica- 
tion Pius speaks of his episcopal correspondent of Vienne as 
" constituted by the brethren and clothed with the dress of the 
bishops." 2 By "the brethren," as is plain from another part 
of the letter, 3 he understands the presbytery. And as the sol- 
diers made a sovereign by saluting him emperor, and arraying 
him in the purple : so the presbyters made a president by 
clothing him with a certain piece of dress, and calling him 
bishop. Thus, the statement of Jerome is exactly corrobora- 
ted by the evidence of this witness. *" 

We may infer from the letter of Pius that in Gaul and Italy, 
as well as in Egypt, the elders were in the habit of making 
their own bishop. 4 There is not a particle of evidence to 
show that any other arrangement originally existed. The 
declaration of so competent an authority as Jerome, backed 

1 The case is different with the modern English archdeacon who is a 
presbyter. 

2 " A fratribus constitutes et colobio episcoporum vestitus." 

3 " Saluta omne collegium fratrum, qui tecum sunt in Domino." 

4 The practice continued longer at Alexandria than at Rome and various 
other places. 



532 A LESSON OF HUMILITY. 

by the attestation of this ancient epistle, may be regarded as 
perfectly conclusive. 1 But other proofs of the same fact are 
not wanting. For a long period the bishop continued to be 
known by the title of " the elder who presides " — a designation 
which obviously implies that he was still only one of the presby- 
ters. When the Paschal controversy created such excitement, 
and when Victor of Rome threatened to renounce the commun- 
ion of those who held views different from his own, Irenaeus of 
Lyons wrote a letter of remonstrance to the haughty church- 
man in which he broadly reminded him of his ecclesiastical 
position. " Those presbyters before Soter who governed the 
Church over which you now preside, I mean," said he, 
"Anicetus, and Pius, Hyginus with Telesphorus and Xystus, 
neither did themselves observe, nor did they permit those 
after them to observe it But those very presbyters be- 
fore you who did not observe it, sent the Eucharist to those 
of Churches which did." ' Irenaeus here endeavors to teach 
the bishop of Rome a lesson of humility by reminding him 
repeatedly that he and his predecessors were but presbyters. 

The pastor of Lyons speaks even still more distinctly re- 
specting the status of the bishops who flourished in his gen- 
eration. Thus, he says : " We should obey those presbyters 
in the Church who have the succession from the apostles, and 
who, with the succession of the episcopate, have received the cer- 

1 The statement of Jerome is not inconsistent with the fact that the senior 
elder was originally the president or bishop, for he was recognized as such 
by mutual agreement. Neither is it at variance with the idea that the el- 
ders sometimes made a selection by lot out of three of their number pre- 
viously put in nomination. Even after bishops began to be elected by gen- 
eral suffrage, the people were in some places restricted to certain candidates 
chosen from among the elders by lot. Cyprian apparently refers to this cir- 
cumstance when he says that he was chosen by " the judgment of God" as 
well as by the vote of the people. Epist. xl., p. 119. The people of Alex- 
andria, toward the close of the third and beginning of the fourth century, 
were restricted to certain candidates. See pp. 302, 303, Period ii., sec. i„ chap, 
iv. Cornelius of Rome is said to have been made bishop by " the judgment 
of God and of his Christ " and by the votes of the people. Cyprian, Epist. 
lii., pp. 150, 151. 

2 Euseb. v. 24. 



CHRISTIAN MINISTERS ORDAINED BY PRESBYTERS. 533 

tain gift of truth according to the good pleasure of the Fa- 
ther : but we should hold as suspected or as heretics and of 
bad sentiments the rest who depart from the principal succes- 
sion, and meet together wherever they please. ..... From all 

such we must keep aloof, but we must adhere to those who 
both preserve, as we have already mentioned, the doctrine of 
the apostles, and exhibit, with the order of the presbytery, 
sound teaching and an inoffensive conversation." 1 " The or- 
der of the presbytery," obviously signifies the official charac- 
ter conveyed by " the laying on of the hands of the presby- 
tery," and yet such was the ordination of those who, in the 
time of Irenaeus, possessed " the succession from the apos- 
tles " and " the succession of the episcopate." 

Some imagine that no one can be properly qualified to ad- 
minister divine ordinances who has not received episcopal or- 
dination, but a more accurate acquaintance with the history 
of the early Church is all that is required to dissipate the de- 
lusion. The preceding statements clearly show that, for up- 
wards of one hundred and fifty years after the death of our 
Lord, all the Christian ministers throughout the world were 
ordained by presbyters. The bishops themselves were of " the 
order of the presbytery," and, as they had never received 
episcopal consecration, they could only ordain as presbyters. 
The bishop was, in fact, nothing more than the chief presby- 
ter. 2 A father of the third century accordingly observes, 
" All power and grace are established in the Church where 

1 " Contra Hasreses," iv., c. 26, sees. 2, 4. " Quapropter eis qui in eccle- 
sia sunt, presbyteris obaudire oportet, his qui successionem habent ab apos- 
tolis, sicut ostendimus ; qui cum episcopatus successione charisma veritatis 
certum secundum placitum Patris acceperunt ; reliquos vero, qui absistunt 
a principali successione, et quocunque loco colligunt, suspectos habere vel 

quasi haereticos et malae sentential Ab omnibus igitur talibus ab- 

sistere oportet ; adhasrere vero his qui et apostolorum, sicut prasdiximus, 
doctrinam custodiunt, et cum presbyterii or dine sermonem sanum et conver- 
sationem sine offensa praestant." 

2 This was long the received doctrine. Thus, the author of the " Ques- 
tions on the Old and New Testament " says, " Quid est episcopus nisi pri- 
mus presbyter ?" — Aug. Qucest., c. 101. 



534 0LD METHOD OF ORDAINING A BISHOP. 

elders preside, who possess the power, as well of baptizing, as 
of confirming and ordaining." ' 

An old ecclesiastical law, recently presented for the first 
time to the English reader, 2 throws much light on a portion 
of the history of the Church long buried in great obscurity. 
This law may well remind us of those remains of extinct 
classes of animals which the naturalist studies with so much 
interest, as it obviously belongs to an era even anterior to 
that of the so-called apostolical canons. 3 Though it is part of 
a series of regulations once current in the Church of Ethiopia, 
there is every reason to believe that it was framed in Italy, 
and that its authority was acknowledged by the Church of 
Rome in the time of Hippolytus. 4 It marks a transition 
period in the history of ecclesiastical polity, and whilst it in- 
directly confirms the testimony of Jerome relative to the cus- 
tom of the Church of Alexandria, it shows that the state of 
things to which the learned presbyter refers was now super- 
seded by another arrangement. This curious specimen of an- 
cient legislation treats of the appointment and ordination of 
ministers. " The bishop," says this enactment, " is to be 

elected by all the people And they shall choose ONE 

OF THE BISHOPS AND ONE OF THE PRESBYTERS, .... AND 



1 " Omnis potestas et gratia in ecclesia constitua sit, ubi praesident ma- 
jores natu, qui et baptizandi et manum imponendi et ordinandi possident 
potestatem." — Firmilian, Epist., Cyprian, Opera, p. 304. 

2 See Bunsen's " Hippolytus," ii. 351-357. See also Fabricius," Biblioth. 
Graecae," liber v., p. 208. Hamburg, 1723. 

3 The earliest was framed only a few years before the middle of the third 
century. In A.D. 228, several bishops united in the ordination of the pres- 
byter Origen (see Euseb. vi. 8, 23) ; whereas, according to the second of 
these canons, a presbyter is to be ordained " by one bishop." They were 
called apostolical perhaps because concocted by some of the bishops of 
the so-called apostolic Churches. 

4 The collection to which it belongs bears the designation of the " Canons 
of Abidides," — the name of Hippolytus in Abyssinian, as their calendar 
shows. Bunsen, ii. 352. The canons edited by Hippolytus were, no doubt ; 
at one time acknowledged by the Western Church. 

5 Bunsen's " Hippolytus," iii. 43, and " Analecta Antenicaena," iii. 415. 



AN ANCIENT BISHOP AND A MODERN PRELATE. 535 

Here, to avoid the confusion arising from a whole crowd of 
individuals imposing hands in ordination, two were selected to 
act on behalf of the assembled office-bearers ; and, that the 
parties entitled to officiate might be fairly represented, the 
deputies were to be a bishop and a presbyter. 1 The canon 
illustrates the jealousy with which the presbyters in the early 
part of the third century still guarded some of their rights 
and privileges. In the matter of investing others with Church 
authority, they yet maintained their original position, and 
though many bishops might be present when another was in- 
ducted into office, they would permit only one of the number 
to unite with one of themselves in the ceremony of ordination. 
Some at the present day do not hesitate to assert that presby- 
ters have no right whatever to ordain, but this canon supplies 
evidence that in the third century they were employed to or- 
dain bishops. 

It thus appears that the bishop of the ancient Church was 
very different from the dignitary now known by the same 
designation. The primitive bishop had often but two or three 
elders, and sometimes a single deacon, 2 under his jurisdiction : 
the modern prelate has frequently the oversight of several 
hundreds of ministers. The ancient bishop, surrounded by 
his presbyters, preached ordinarily every Sabbath to his whole 
flock : the modern bishop may spend an entire lifetime with- 
out addressing a single sermon, on the Lord's day, to many who 
are under his episcopal supervision. The early bishop had the 
care of a parish : the modern bishop superintends a diocese. 
The elders of the primitive bishop were not unfrequently 
decent tradesmen who earned their bread by the sweat of 
their brow: 3 the presbyters of a modern prelate have gen- 

1 Eutychius intimates that the Alexandrian presbyters continued to ordain 
their own bishop until the time of the Council of Nice. It is not improb- 
able that, until then, some of them continued to take part in the ordination, 
and the statement of the Alexandrian patriarch may be so far correct. 

2 See Bunsen, iii. 45. 

3 Where the bishop, as in the case contemplated in a canon quoted in the 
text, had to depend for his official income on the contributions of twelve 
families, it is plain that the elders could expect no remuneration for their 



536 THE ANCIENT BISHOP. 

erally each the charge of a congregation, and are supposed to 
be entirely devoted to sacred duties. Even the ancient city 
bishop had but a faint resemblance to his modern namesake. 
He was the most laborious city minister, and the chief preacher. 
He commonly baptized all who were received into the Church, 
and dispensed the Eucharist to all the communicants. He 
was, in fact, properly the minister of an overgrown parish 
who required several assistants to supply his lack of service. 

The foregoing testimonies likewise show that the doctrine 
of apostolical succession, as now commonly promulgated, is 
utterly destitute of any sound historical basis. According to 
some, no one is duly qualified to preach and to dispense the sac- 
raments whose authority has not been transmitted from the 
Twelve by an unbroken series of episcopal ordinations. But 
it has been demonstrated that episcopal ordinations, properly 
so called, originated only in the third century, and that even 
the bishops of Rome, who flourished prior to that date, 
were " of the order of the presbytery." All the primitive 
bishops received nothing more than presbyterian ordination. 
It is plain, therefore, that the doctrine of the transmission of 
spiritual power from the apostles through an unbroken series 
of episcopal ordinations flows from sheer ignorance of the 
actual constitution of the early Church. v 

But the arrangements now described were gradually sub- 
verted by episcopal encroachments, and a separate chapter 
must be devoted to the illustration of the progress of Prelacy. 

services. As the hierarchy advanced these ruling- elders disappeared. 
Hence Hilary says, " The synagogue, and afterwards the Church, had 
elders, without whose counsel nothing was done in the Church, which, by 
what negligence it grew into disuse I know not ; unless, perhaps, by the 
sloth, or rather by the pride of the teachers, while they alone wished to ap- 
pear something." — Comment, on 1 Tim. v. 1. Some late writers have con- 
tended that these elders (seniores) were not ecclesiastical officers at all, 
but civil magistrates of municipal corporations peculiar to Africa. It must, 
however, be recollected that Hilary was a Roman deacon of the fourth 
century, and that he speaks of them as belonging to the Church before the 
civil establishment of Christianity. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE PROGRESS OF PRELACY. 

We can not tell when the president of the presbytery began 
to hold office for life ; but it is evident that the change, at 
whatever period it occurred, must have added considerably to 
his power. The chairman of any court is the individual through 
whom it is addressed, and without whose signature its pro- 
ceedings can not be properly authenticated. He acts in its 
name, and he stands forth as its representative. He may, 
theoretically, possess no more power than any of the other 
members of the judicatory, and he may be bound, by the most 
stringent laws, simply to carry out the decisions of their united 
wisdom ; but his very position gives him influence ; and, if he 
holds office for life, that influence may soon become formid- 
able. If he is not constantly kept in check by the vigilance 
and determination of those with whom he is associated, he 
may insensibly trench upon their rights and privileges. In 
the second century the moderator of the city presbytery was 
invariably a man advanced in years, who, instead of being 
watched with jealousy, was regarded with affectionate vener- 
ation ; and it is not strange if he was often permitted to 
stretch his authority beyond the exact range of its legitimate 
exercise. 

Evidence has already been adduced to show that, oh the 
rise of Prelacy, the presidential chair was no longer inherited 
by the members of the city presbytery in the order of seniority. 
The individuals considered most competent for the situation 
were nominated by their brethren ; and as the Church, espe- 
cially in great towns, was sadly distracted by the machinations 
of the Gnostics, it was deemed expedient to arm the moder- 

(537) 



538 GROWTH OF PRELACY. 

ator with additional authority. As a matter of necessity, the 
official who was furnished with these new powers required a 
new name ; for the title president, by which he was already 
known, and which continued long afterward in current use, 1 
did not now fully indicate his importance. It was, therefore, 
gradually supplanted by the designation bishop, or overseer. 
Whilst this functionary was nominated by the presbyters, he 
might be also set aside by them, ,so that he felt it necessary to 
consult their wishes and to use his discretionary power with 
modesty and moderation ; but, when elected by general suf- 
frage his authority was forthwith established on a broader and 
firmer foundation. He was now emphatically the man of the 
people ; and from this date he possessed an influence with 
which the presbytery itself was incompetent to grapple. 

As early as the middle of the second century the president, 
at least in some places, was intrusted with the chief manage- 
ment of the funds of the Church ; a and probably, about fifty 
years afterward, a large share of its revenues was appropriated 
to his personal maintenance. 3 His superior wealth soon added 
immensely to his influence. He was thus enabled to maintain 
a higher position in society than any of his brethren ; and he 
was at length regarded as the great fountain of patronage and 
preferment. Long before Christianity enjoyed the sanction 
of the State, the chief pastors of the great cities began to 
attract attention by their ostentatious display of secular 
magnificence. Origen, who flourished in the former half of 
the third century, strongly condemns their vanity and ambi- 
tion; and though his ascetic temperament prompted him to 
indulge somewhat in the language of exaggeration, the testi- 
mony of so respectable a witness can not be rejected as untrue. 
" We," says he, " proceed so far in the affectation of pomp 
and state, as to outdo even bad rulers among the pagans ; 

1 Thus Firmilian speaks of " seniores et prceposztz," and of the Church 
" ubi president majores natu." — Cyprian, Opera, pp. 302 and 304. 

2 Justin Matryr, Opera, p. 99. 

3 In the days of Origen the episcopal office was not unfrequently coveted 
for its wealth. Origen, Opera, iii. p? 501. See also Cyprian, Epist. lxiv., 
p. 240. 



PRIDE AND POMP OF THE CITY BISHOPS. 539 

and, like the emperors, surround ourselves with a guard that 
we may be feared and made difficult of access, particularly to 
the poor. And in many of our so-called Churches, especially 
in the large towns, may be found presiding officers of the 
Church of God who would refuse to own even the best among 
the disciples of Jesus while on earth as their equals." ' In 
these remarks the writer had doubtless a particular reference 
to his own Church of Alexandria ; but it is well known that 
elsewhere some bishops in the third century assumed a very 
lofty bearing. It is related of the celebrated Paul of Samosata, 
the bishop of Antioch, that he acted as a secular judge, that 
he appeared in public surrounded by a crowd of servants, and 
that he took special pleasure in pomp and parade ; and yet, 
had he not lapsed into heresy, his overweening pride would 
not have brought down upon him the vengeance of ecclesias- 
tical discipline. In the third century the chief pastor of the 
Western metropolis was known to the great officers of govern- 
ment, and perhaps to the Emperor himself. Decius must have 
regarded the Roman bishop as a formidable personage when he 
declared that he would sooner tolerate a rival candidate for the 
throne, and when he proclaimed his determination to annihi- 
late the very office. 2 

It was not strange that dignitaries who affected so much 
state soon contrived to surround themselves with a whole 
host of new officials. Within little more than a century after 
the rise of Prelacy the number of grades of ecclesiastics was 
nearly trebled. In addition to the bishop, the presbyters, 
and the deacons, there were also, in A.D. 251, in the Church 
of Rome, Jectors, sub-deacons, acolyths, exorcists, and jani- 
tors. 3 The lectors, who read the Scriptures to the congrega- 
tion 4 and who had charge of the sacred manuscripts, attract 
our attention as distinct office-bearers about the close of the 

1 Comment, in Matt., Opera, iii. p. 723. 

2 See Period ii., sec. i., chap, v., p. 322. 

3 Euseb. vi. 43. 

4 Tertullian, " Prasscrip. Hseret." c. 41. This office, even in the fourth 
century, was often committed to mere children — a sad proof that the im- 
portance of reading the Word effectively was not duly appreciated. 



540 BISHOPS CHOSEN BY THE PEOPLE. 

second century. The sub-deacons had the care of the sacra- 
mental cups ; the acolyths attended to the lamps of the sacred 
edifice ; the exorcists ' professed by their prayers to expel 
evil spirits out of the bodies of those about to be baptized ; 
and the janitors performed the more humble duties of porters 
or door-keepers. At a subsequent period each of these 
functionaries was initiated into orifice by a special form of 
ordination or investiture. It was laid down as a principle 
that no one could regularly become a bishop who had not 
previously passed through all these inferior orders ; a but 
when the multitude wished all at once to elevate a layman to 
the rank of a bishop or a presbyter, ecclesiastical routine was 
compelled to yield to the pressure of popular enthusiasm. 3 

The great city in which Prelacy originated was the place 
where these new offices made their first appearance. Rome, 
true to her mission as " the mother of the Catholic Church," 
conceived and brought forth nearly all the peculiarities of the 
Catholic system. The lady seated on the seven hills was 
already regarded with great admiration, and surrounding 
Churches silently copied the arrangements of their Imperial 
parent. In the East, at least one of the orders instituted by 
the great Western prelate, that is, the order of acolyths, was 
not adopted for centuries afterward. 4 

The city bishops were well aware of the vast accession of 
influence they acquired in consequence of their election by the 
people, and did not fail to insist upon the circumstance when 
desirous to illustrate their ecclesiastical title. Any one who 
peruses the letters of Cyprian may remark the frequency, as 
well as the transparent satisfaction, with which he refers to 
the mode of his appointment. Who, he seems to say, could 
doubt his right to act as bishop of Carthage, seeing that he 
had been chosen by "the suffrage of the whole fraternity" — 

1 Origen makes mention of them, Opera, ii. p. 453 ; and Firmilian, Cyprian, 
Epist. lxv., p. 306. 

2 Cyprian, Epist. lii., p. 150. 

3 As in the case of Fabian of Rome. Euseb. vi. 29. 

4 Bingham, i. 356, 359. 






INTERFERENCE WITH THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE. 541 

by "the vote of the people " P 1 The members of the Church 
enthusiastically acknowledged such appeals to their sympathy 
and support, and in cases of emergency promptly rallied round 
the individuals whom they had themselves elevated to power. 
But, as all the other Church officers were likewise chosen by 
common suffrage, the bishops soon betrayed an anxiety to ap- 
propriate the distinction, and began, under various pretexts, 
to interfere with the free exercise of the popular franchise. In 
one of his epistles Cyprian excuses himself to the Christians 
of Carthage because he had ventured to ordain a reader with- 
out their approval. He pleads that the peculiar circumstances 
of the case and the extraordinary merits of the candidate must 
be accepted as his apology. " In clerical ordinations," says 
he, " my custom is to consult you beforehand, dearest brethren, 
and in coi7imon deliberation to weigh the character and merits 
of each. But testimonies of men need not be awaited when 
anticipated by the sentence of God." 2 The sanction of the 
people should have been obtained before the ordination ; but 
as persecution now raged, it is suggested that it was found 
inconvenient to lay the matter before them ; and Cyprian ar- 
gues that the informality was pardonable, inasmuch as the Al- 
mighty himself had given His suffrage in favor of the new 
lector ; for Aurelius, though only a youth, had nobly submit- 
ted to the torture rather than renounce the Gospel. 

The ordination of Aurelius under such circumstances was 
not, however, a solitary case ; and there is certainly something 
suspicious in the frequency with which the bishop of Carthage 
apologizes to the clergy and people for neglecting to consult 
them on the appointment of Church officers. In another of 
his letters he announces to the presbyters and deacons that 
" on an urgent occasion" he had " made Saturus a reader, and 
Optatus, the confessor, a sub-deacon." 3 Again, he tells the 
same parties, and " the whole people," that " Celerinus, re- 
nowned alike for his courage and his character, has been joined 
to the clergy, not by human suffrage, but by the divine favor **; * 

1 Cyprian, Epist. lv., pp. 177, 178; xl., pp. 119, 120. 

2 Epist. xxxiii., p. 105. 3 Epist. xxiv., pp. 79, 80. 
4 Epist. xxxiv., pp. 107, 108. 



542 ORDINATION BY BISHOPS. 

and at another time he informs them that he had been " ad- 
monished and instructed by a divine vouchsafemcut to enroll 
Numidicus in the number of the Carthaginian presbyters." ' 
These cases were afterward quoted as precedents for the non- 
observance of the law ; and from time to time new pretences 
were discovered for evading its provisions. In this way the 
rights of the people were gradually abridged ; and in the course 
of two or three centuries, the bishops almost entirely ignored 
their interference in the election of presbyters and deacons, as 
well as of the inferior clergy. 

New canons relative to ordination were promulgated about 
the time when the city presbyters ceased to have the exclusive 
right of electing their own bishop. The altered circumstances 
of the Church led to the establishment of these regulations. 
The election of the chief pastor of a great town was often a 
scene of much excitement, and when several of the presbyters 
were candidates for the office, it was obviously unseemly that 
any of them should preside on the occasion. It was accord- 
ingly arranged that some of the neighboring bishops" should 
be present to superintend the proceedings. The successful 
candidate now began to be formally invested with his new 
dignity by the imposition of hands ; and at first, perhaps, one 
of the bishops, assisted by one of the presbyters of the place, 
performed this ceromony. 2 But the presbyters soon ceased to 
officiate at the ordination. At the election, the people and the 
clergy sometimes took opposite sides; and, in the contest, the 
ecclesiastical party was not unfrequently completely overborne. 
It occasionally happened, as in the case of Cyprian, 3 that one of 
the presbyters was chosen in opposition to the wishes of the 

1 Epist. xxv., p. in. 

3 Bishops and presbyters continued to ordain bishops in the time of Ori- 
gen. His " Commentaries on Matthew," written, according to his Bene- 
dictine editor, in a.d. 245 (see Delarue's " Origen," iii. Praef.) speak of 
bishops a?id presbyters " committing whole churches to unfit persons and 
constituting incompetent governors." — Opera, iii., p. 753. 

3 It would appear that the five presbyters who opposed Cyprian consti- 
tuted the majority of the presbytery. Cyprian, Epist. xl., pp. 119, 120. 
See also Sage's " Vindication of the Principles of theCyprianic Age," p. 348. 



ORDINATION BY PRESBYTERS. 543 

majority of. the presbytery ; or, as in the case of Fabian of 
Rome, 1 that a layman was all at once elevated to the episco- 
pal chair; and, at such times, the disappointed presbyters did 
not care to join in the inauguration. The bishops availed 
themselves of the pretexts thus furnished to dispense with 
their services altogether. At length the power of admitting 
to the ministry by the laying on of hands began to be chal- 
lenged as the peculiar prerogative of the episcopal order. 

In many places — perhaps before the middle of the third 
century — elders were no longer permitted to take part in the 
consecration of bishops ; but Prelacy had not yet completely 
established itself upon the ruins of the more ancient polity. 
Sometimes the presbytery itself still discharged the functions 
of the bishop. After the martyrdom of Fabian in A.D. 250, 
the Church of Rome remained upwards of a year under its 
care, 2 as the see was meanwhile vacant ; and about the same 
period we find Cyprian, when in exile, requesting his presby- 
ters and deacons to execute both his duties and their own. 3 
It was still admitted that presbyters were competent to ordain 
presbyters and deacons, as well as to confirm and to baptize; 
and the bishop continued to recognize them as his " colleagues " 
and his "fellow-presbyters." 4 It is clear, however, that the re- 
lations between them and their episcopal chief were now very 
vaguely defined, and that the ambiguous position of the par- 
ties led to mutual complaints of ambition and usurpation. 
The Epistles of Cyprian supply evidence that the bishop of 
Carthage, during a great part of his episcopate, was engaged 
with his presbyters in a struggle for power ; 5 and though he 
asserted that he was contending for nothing more than his 
legitimate authority, he was sometimes obliged to abate his 
pretensions. In one case he complains that, " without his 

1 Euseb. vi. 29. 

2 Cyprian, Epist. xxxi., pp. 99, 100. 3 Cyprian, Epist. iv., p. 31. 

4 Cyprian, Epist. xxxiii., p. 106 ; xxxiv., p. 107 ; lviii., p. 207 ; lxxi., p. 271 ; 
lxxvii., p. 327. Euseb. vii. 5. 

5 Thus we find him going so far as to complain that his presbyters " with 
contempt and dishonor of the bishop arrogate sole authority to themselves." 
— Epist. ix., p. 48. 



544 COUNTRY BISHOPS FORBIDDEN TO ORDAIN. 

permission or knowledge," his presbyter Novatus, " of his own 
factiousness and ambition " had " made Felicissimus, his fol- 
lower,^ deacon "; ' but still he does not venture to impeach 
the validity of the act, or refuse to recognize the standing of 
the new ecclesiastic. Felicissimus seems to have been or- 
dained in a small meeting-house in the neighborhood of Car- 
thage ; and as Novatus, who probably presided on the 
occasion, proceeded in conjunction with the majority of the 
presbytery, they no doubt considered that, under these circum- 
stances, the sanction of the bishop was by no means indispen- 
sable. The manifestation of such a spirit of independence 
was, however, exceedingly galling to their imperious prelate. 

From the manner in which Cyprian expresses himself we 
may infer that he would not have been dissatisfied had Novatus 
and the elders who acted with him obtained his permission to 
ordain the deacon Felicissimus. But at this period the bishops 
were beginning to look with extreme jealousy on all presby- 
terian ordinations, and were commencing a series of encroach- 
ments on the rights of their episcopal brethren in rural districts. 
These country bishops, 3 who were ministers of single congrega- 
tions, and who were generally poor and uninfluential, soon suc- 
cumbed to the great city dignitaries. By a council held at An- 
cyra in A.D. 314, or very shortly after the close of the Diocle- 
tian persecution, they were forbidden to perform duties which 
they had hitherto been accustomed to discharge, for one of its 
canons declares that " country bishops must not ordain pres- 
byters or deacons ; neither must city presbyters in another par- 
ish without the written permission of the bishop." 3 

This canon illustrates the strangely anomalous condition of 
the Church at the period of its adoption. It takes no notice 

! Epist. xlix., p. 143. See Neander's " General History," i. 307, and Bur- 
ton's " Lectures on the Ecc. Hist, of the First Three Centuries," ii. 331. 
Burton repudiates the attempts of Bingham and others to explain away 
this proceeding. 

2 They are called so for the first time in the Council of Ancyra. They 
had before always been called simply bishops. It has been remarked that 
we never find any chorepiscopi among the African bishops, though many of 
them occupied as humble a position as those so designated elsewhere. 

3 Canon xiii., " Canones Apost. et Concil. Berolini," 1839. 



COUNTRY BISHOPS AND CITY PRESBYTERS. 545 

of country elders, as the proceedings of such an humble class of 
functionaries awakened no jealousy ; and it degrades country 
bishops, who unquestionably belonged to the episcopal order, 
by placing them in a position inferior to that of city presbyters. 
Sixty years before, or in the middle of the third century, three 
of these country bishops were deemed competent to ordain a 
bishop of Rome ; 1 but now they are deprived of the right of 
ordaining even elders or deacons. It is easy to understand why 
city presbyters were still permitted, under certain conditions, 
to exercise this privilege. As they constituted the council of 
the city chief pastor, their influence was considerable ; and as 
they had, till a recent date, been accustomed even to take part 
in his own consecration, it was deemed inexpedient to tempt 
so formidable a class of churchmen to make common cause 
with the country-bishops by stripping both at once of their 
ancient prerogatives. The country bishops, as the weaker 
party, were first subjected to a process of spoliation. But the 
recognition of Christianity by Constantine gave an immense 
impulse to the progress of the hierarchy, and the city presby- 
ters were soon afterward deprived of the privilege now wrested 
from the country bishops. 

The current of events had placed the Church, about the mid- 
dle of the third century, in a position which it could not long 
maintain. As the growth of Christianity in towns was steady 
and rapid, the bishop there rose quickly into wealth and power ; 
but, among the comparatively poor and thinly-scattered popu- 
lation of the country, his condition remained nearly stationary. 
When Cyprian, in A.D. 256, addressed the eighty-seven bishops 
assembled in the Council of Carthage, and told them that they 
were all on an equality, he might have felt that the doctrine 
of episcopal parity, as then understood, must be given up as 
indefensible if assailed by the skill of a vigorous logician. Who 
could believe that the bishop of Carthage held exactly the same 
official rank as every one of his episcopal auditors ? He was 
the chief pastor of a flourishing metropolis; he had several 
congregations under his care, and several of his presbyters were 

1 In the case of Novatian. Euseb. vi. 43. 
35 



546 RISE OF METROPOLITANS. 

preachers ; ' but many of the bishops before him were ministers 
of single congregations, and without even one elder competent 
to deliver a sermon. 2 In point of ministerial gifts and actual 
influence some of the presbyters of Carthage were, no doubt, 
far superior to many of the bishops of the council. And who 
could affirm that Paul of Samosata, the chief pastor of the 
capital of the Eastern Empire, was quite on a level with every 
one of the village bishops around him whom he bribed to cele- 
brate his praises ? No wonder that it was soon found neces- 
sary to remodel the episcopal system. The city bishops had a 
show of equity in their favor when they asserted their superi- 
ority, and their brethren in rural districts were too feeble and 
dependent effectively to resist their own degradation. 

The ecclesiastical title metropolitan came into use at the time 
of the Council at Nice in A.D. 325, 3 and there is reason to be- 
lieve that the territorial jurisdiction it implied was then first 
distinctly defined and generally established ; but the changes 
of the preceding three-quarters of a century had been prepar- 
ing' the way for the new arrangement. Many of the country 
bishops had been reduced to a condition of subserviency, whilst 
a considerable number of the chief pastors in the great cities 
had been recognized as the constant presidents of the synods 
which met in their respective capitals. It is easy to see how 
these prelates acquired such a position. Talent, if exerted, 
always asserts its ascendency ; and the metropolitan bishops 
were generally more able and accomplished than the majority 
of their brethren. They could fairly plead that zeal for the 
good of the Church prompted them to take a lead in ecclesi- 
astical affairs, and their place of residence supplied them with 
facilities for communicating with other pastors of which they 
often deemed it prudent to avail themselves. When the synod 
met in the metropolis, the bishop of the city was wont to en- 

1 These presbyters were called Doctores. Cyprian, Epist. xxxiv., p. 80. 

2 Even at the time of the Council of Carthage held A.D. 397, a bishop had 
sometimes only one presbyter under his care. See Dupin's account of the 
Council. 

3 Bingham i., 198; and Beveridge, " Cotelerius," torn, ii., App., p. 17. 



RISE OF METROPOLITANS. 547 

tertain many of the members as his guests ; and, as he was ele- 
vated above most, if not all, of those with whom he acted, in 
point of wealth, social standing, address, and knowledge of the 
world, he was usually called on to occupy the chair of the mod- 
erator. In process of time that which was originally conceded 
as a matter of courtesy passed into an admitted right. So long 
as the metropolitan bishop was inducted into office by mere 
presbyters, the circumstances of his investiture pointed out to 
him the duty of humility ; but when the most distinguished 
chief pastors of the province deemed it an honor to take part 
in his consecration, he immediately increased his pretensions. 
Thus it is that the change in the mode of episcopal inaugura- 
tion forms a new era in the history of ecclesiastical assumption. 
About the middle of the third century various circumstances 
conspired to augment the authority of the great bishops. In 
the Decian and Valerian persecutions the chief pastors were 
specially marked out for attack, and the heroic constancy with 
which some of the most eminent encountered a cruel death 
vastly enhanced the reputation of their order. In a few years 
several bishops of Rome were martyred ; Cyprian of Carthage 
endured the same fate ; Alexander of Jerusalem, and Babylas 
of Antioch, also laid down their lives for their religion. 1 At 
the same time the schism of Novatian at Rome, and the schism 
of Felicissimus at Carthage, threatened the Church with new 
divisions ; and the same arguments which were used, upwards 
of a hundred years before, for increasing the power of the 
president of the eldership, could now be urged with equal 
pertinency for adding to. the authority of the president of the 
synod. In point of fact the earliest occasion on which the 
bishop of Rome executed discipline in his archiepiscopal 
capacity was immediately connected with the schism of Nova- 
tian ; for we have no record of any exercise of such power un- 
til Cornelius, at the head of a council held in the Imperial city, 
deposed the pastors who had officiated at the consecration of 
his rival. 2 From this date the Roman metropolitan presided 
at all the ordinations of the bishops in his vicinity. 

1 See Period ii., sec. i., chap ii.. p. 274, and p. 323. 2 Euseb. vi. 43. 



543 RISE OF METROPOLITANS. 

To prevent the recurrence of schisms such as had now hap- 
pened at Rome and Carthage, it was arranged about this pe- 
riod, 1 at least in some quarters of the Church, that the presence 
or sanction of the stated president of the provincial synod 
should be necessary to the validity of all episcopal consecra- 
tions. There were still, however, many districts in which the 
provincial synod had no fixed chairman. Hence an ancient 
canon directs that at the ordination of a member of the hie- 
rarchy, " one of the principal bishops shall pray to God over the 
approved candidate." 2 By a "principal bishop" we are to 
understand the chief pastor of a principal or apostolic church ; 8 
but in some provinces several such churches were to be found, 
and this regulation attests that no single ecclesiastic had yet 
acquired an unchallenged precedence. As the close of the 
third century approached, the ecclesiastical structure exhibited 
increasing uniformity ; and one dignitary in each region began 
to be known as the stated president of the episcopal body. 
In one of the so-called apostolical canons, framed probably 
before the Council of Nice, this arrangement is embodied. 
" The bishops of every nation," says the ordinance, " ought to 
know who is the first among them, and him they ought to es- 
teem as their head, and not do any great thing without his 

consent But neither let him do anything without the 

consent of all." 4 

This canon is couched in terms of studied ambiguity, for 
the expression " the first among the bishops of every nation " 
admits of various interpretations. In many cases it meant the 
senior bishop of the district ; in others, it denoted the chief 
pastor of the chief city of the province ; and in others again, 
it indicated the prelate of a great metropolis who had con- 
trived to establish his authority over a still more extensive 

1 Probably in some of the great councils now held at Rome and Antioch. 
See Euseb. vi. 43, vi. 46. Novatian is spoken of as a person by whom the 
Church was " split asunder." Euseb. vii. 8. 

2 Bunsen's " Hippolytus," iii. 50. Another canon says: "He who is 
worthy out of the bishops .... putteth his hand upon him whom they 
have made bishop, praying over him." — Bunsen, iii. 42. 

3 See chapter viii. of this section, pp. 514, 517. * Bunsen, iii. III. 



CONTESTS FOR SUPERIORITY. 549 

territory. The rise of the city bishops had completely de- 
stroyed that balance of power which originally existed in the 
Church ; and much commotion preceded the settlement of a 
new ecclesiastical equilibrium. During the last forty years of 
the third century the Christians enjoyed almost uninterrupted 
peace ; the chief pastors were meanwhile perpetually engaged 
in contests for superiority ; and about this time the bishops of 
Rome, of Alexandria, and of Antioch, rapidly extended their 
influence. So rampant was the usurping spirit of churchmen, 
that even the violence of the Diocletian persecution was not 
sufficient to check them in their career of ambition. A con- 
temporary writer, who was himself a member of the episcopal 
order, bears testimony to this melancholy fact. " Some," said 
he, " who were reputed our pastors, contemning the law of 
piety, were, under the excitement of mutual animosities, fo- 
menting nothing else but disputes and threatenings and rivalry 
and reciprocal hostility and hatred, as they contentiously pros- 
ecuted their ambitious designs for sovereignty." l 
* What a change had passed over the Christian common- 
wealth in the course of little more than two hundred years ! 
When the Apostle John died, the city church was governed 
by the common council of the elders, and their president sim- 
ply announced and executed the decisions of his brethren : 
now, the president was transformed into a prelate who, by 
gradual encroachments, had stripped the presbytery of a large 
share of its authority. At the close of the first century the 
Church of Rome was, perhaps, less influential than the Church 
of Ephesus, and the very name of its moderator at that period 
is a matter of disputed and doubtful tradition ; but the Dio- 
cletian persecution had scarcely terminated when the bishop 
of the great metropolis was found sitting in a council in the 
palace of the Lateran, and claiming jurisdiction over eight or 
ten provinces of Italy ! These revolutions were not effected 
without much opposition. The strife between the presbyters 
and the bishops was succeeded by a general warfare among 
the possessors of episcopal power, for the constant moderator 

1 Euseb. viii. I. 



550 IMPORTANCE OF CHURCH POLITY. 

of the synod was as anxious to increase his authority as the 
constant moderator of the presbytery. About the close of 
the third century the Church was sadly scandalized by the 
quarrels of the bishops, and Eusebius accordingly intimates 
that, in the reign of terror which so quickly followed, they 
suffered a righteous retribution for their misconduct. 

Discussions respecting questions of Church polity are often 
exceedingly distasteful to persons of contracted views, but of 
genuine piety, for they can not understand how the progress 
of vital godliness can be influenced by forms of ecclesiastical 
government. 1 At this period such sentiments were probably 
not uncommon, and much of the apathy with which innova- 
tions were contemplated may thus be easily explained. Be- 
sides, if the early bishop was a man of ability and address, his 
influence in his own church was nearly overwhelming ; for as 
he was the ordinary, if not the only, preacher, he thus pos- 
sessed the most effective means of recommending any favorite 
scheme, and of giving a decided tone to public opinion. 
When a parochial charge became vacant by the demise of the 
chief pastor, the election of a successor was often vigorously 
contested ; and when an influential presbyter was defeated, he 
sometimes exhibited his mortification by contending for the 
rights of his order, and by disputing the pretensions of his 
successful rival. But as such opposition was dictated by the 
spirit of faction, it was commonly brief, ill-sustained, and 
abortive. The young, talented, and aspiring presbyters were 
strongly tempted to encourage the growth of episcopal pre- 
rogative, for each hoped one day to occupy the place of dig- 
nity, and thus to reap the fruits of present encroachments. 
The bishops resisted more strenuously the establishment of 

1 The following observation of a distinguished writer of the Church of 
England is well worthy of consideration : " The remains of ancient ecclesi- 
astical literature, especially those of the Latin Church, teach us that the 
corruption of Christianity of which Romanism is the full development, 
manifested itself, in the first instance, not in the doctrines which relate to 
the spiritual life of the individual, but in those connected with the consti- 
tution and authority of the Christian society." — Litton s Church of Christ, 
p. 12. 



METROPOLITANS ESTABLISHED WITH DIFFICULTY. 55 1 

metropolitan ascendency. An ecclesiastical regulation of great 
antiquity, 1 condemned their translation from one parish to 
another, so that when the episcopate was gained, all farther 
prospects of promotion were extinguished ; for the place of 
first among the bishops was either inherited by seniority or 
claimed by the prelate of the chief city. Hence it was that 
the pastors withstood so firmly all infringements on their the- 
oretical parity ; and hence those " ambitious disputes," 2 and 
those " collisions of bishops with bishops," 3 even amidst the 
fires of martyrdom, over which the historian of the Church 
professes his anxiety to cast the veil of oblivion. s/ 

1 " Can. Apost.," xiv. " Concil. Nic," xv. Before the end of the fourth 
century, Gregory Nazianzen classes this enactment among " the obsolete 
laws." 

2 Euseb. " Martyrs of Palestine," c. 12. 3 Euseb. viii. I. 



CHAPTER XL 

SYNODS — THEIR HISTORY AND CONSTITUTION. 

The apostles, and the other original heralds of the Gospel, 
sought primarily the conversion of unbelievers. The commis- 
sion given to Paul points out distinctly the grand design of 
their ministry. When the great persecutor of the saints was 
himself converted on his way to Damascus, our Lord addressed 
to him the memorable words, " I have appeared unto thee for 
this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of 
these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the 
which I will appear unto thee ; delivering thee from the 
people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, 
to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and 
from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive for- 
giveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanc- 
tified by faith that is in me." ' 

When a few disciples were collected in a particular locality, 
it not unfrequently happened that they remained for a time 
without any proper ecclesiastical organization. 2 But the 
Christian cause, under such circumstances, could not be ex- 
pected to flourish ; and, therefore, as soon as practicable, the 
apostles and evangelists did not neglect to make arrangements 
for the increase and edification of these infant communities. 
To provide, as well for the maintenance of discipline, as for 
the preaching of the Word, they accordingly proceeded to or- 
dain elders in every city where the truth had gained converts. 
These elders afterward ordained deacons in their respective 

1 Acts xxvi. 16-18. 

2 Such was the case with the churches mentioned Acts xiv. 23, and Titus 
i. 5. 

(552) 



ALL EARLY CHURCHES NOT FORMALLY UNITED. 553 

congregations ; and thus, in due time, the Church was regu- 
larly constituted. 

In the first century Christian societies were formed only 
here and there throughout the Roman Empire ; and, at its 
close, the Gospel had scarcely penetrated into some of the 
provinces. It is not to be expected that we can trace histori- 
cally any general confederation of the churches established 
during this period, or demonstrate their incorporation ; as 
their distance, their depressed condition, and the jealousy with 
which they were regarded by the civil government, 1 rendered 
any extensive combination utterly impossible. At a time 
when the disciples met together for worship in secret and be- 
fore break of day, their pastors did not invite public attention 
to the business of the Church, or assemble in multitudinous 
councils. But though, in the beginning of the second century, 
there was no formal bond of union connecting the several 
Christian communities throughout the world, they meanwhile 
contrived in various ways to cultivate an unbroken fraternal 
intercourse. Recognizing each other as members of the same 
holy brotherhood, they maintained an epistolary correspond- 
ence, in which they treated of all matters pertaining to the 
common interest. When the pastor of one church visited 
another, his status was immediately acknowledged ; and even 
when an ordinary disciple emigrated to a distant province, the 
ecclesiastical certificate which he carried along with him se- 
cured his admission to membership in the strange congrega- 
tion. Thus, all the churches treated each other as portions oi 
one great family ; all adhered to much the same system of 
polity and discipline ; and, though there was not unity of juris- 
diction, there was the " keeping of the unity of the Spirit in 
the bond of peace." 

In modern times many ecclesiastical historians 3 have asserted 
that synods commenced about the middle of the second cent- 
ury. But the statement is unsupported by a single particle of 

1 Trajan regarded with great suspicion all associations, even fire brigades 
and charitable societies. See Pliny's " Letters," book x., letters 43 and 94. 

2 Such as Mosheim, " Instit." i. 149, 150; Neander, "General History," 
i. 281. 



554 SYNODS OF APOSTOLIC ORIGIN. 

evidence, and a number of facts may be ad iuced to prove that 
it is altogether untenable. There is no reason to doubt that 
synods, at least on a limited scale, met in the days of the 
apostles, and that the Church courts of a later age were simply 
the continuation and expansion of these primitive conventions. 
We know very little respecting the history of the Christian 
commonwealth during the former half of the second century, 
for the extant memorials of the Church of that period are ex- 
ceedingly few and meagre ; and as the proceedings of most of 
the synods which were then held did not attract much notice, 1 
it is not remarkable that they have shared the fate of almost 
all the other ecclesiastical transactions of the same date, and 
that they have been buried in oblivion. 8 It is nowhere inti- 
mated by any ancient authority that synodical meetings com- 
menced fifty years after the death of the beloved disciple, and 
the earliest writers who touch upon the subject speak of them 
as of apostolic origin. Irenseus, the pastor of Lyons, had 
reached manhood when, according to Mosheim and others, 
synods were at first formed ; he enjoyed the instructions of 
Polycarp, the disciple of the Apostle John ; he was beyond 
question one of the best informed Christian ministers of his 
generation ; and yet he considered that these ecclesiastical as- 
semblies were in existence in the first century. Speaking of 
the visit of Paul to Miletus when he sent to Ephesus and 
called the elders of the Church, 3 he says that the apostle then 
convoked " the bishops and presbyters of Ephesus and of the 
other adjoining cities," 4 — plainly indicating that he summoned 
a synodical meeting. Had an assembly of this kind been a 

1 During the first forty years of the second century, Gnosticism did not 
excite any great agitation, and as the Church courts were occupied chiefly 
with matters of mere routine, it is not remarkable that their proceedings 
have not been recorded, 

2 We have no contemporary evidence to prove that ordinations took 
place in the former half of the second century, and yet we can not doubt 
their occurrence. An act of ordination implies the existence of a church 
court of some description. 

8 Acts xx. 17. 

5 " In Mileto enim convocatis episcopis et presbyteris, qui erant ab 
Epheso et a reliquis proximis civitatibus." — Contra Hceres. iii., c. 14, § 2. 



SYNODS IN THE SECOND CENTURY. 555 

novelty in the days of Irenaeus, the pastor of Lyons would not 
have given such a version of a passage in the inspired narra- 
tive. Cyprian flourished shortly after the time when, accord- 
ing to the modern theory, councils began to meet in Africa, 
but the bishop of Carthage himself unquestionably enter- 
tained higher views of their antiquity. He declared that con- 
formably to " the practice received from divine tradition and 
apostolic observance" x " all the neighboring bishops of the same 
province met together" among the people over whom a pas- 
tor was to be ordained ; 2 and he did not here merely give 
utterance to his own impressions, for a whole African synod 
concurred in his statement. Subsequent writers of unimpeach- 
able credit refer to the canons of councils of which we other- 
wise know nothing ; and though we can not now name the 
places where these courts assembled, we have evidence that at 
least some of them were convened before the middle of the 
second century. Thus, when Jerome ascribes the origin of 
Prelacy to an ecclesiastical decree, he alludes evidently to a 
synodical convention of an earlier date than any of the meet- 
ings of which history has preserved a record. 3 

Did we even want the direct testimony just adduced as to 
the government of synods in the former part of the second 
century, we might on other grounds infer that this species of 
polity then existed ; for apostolic example suggested its pro- 
priety, and the spirit of fraternity so assiduously cherished by 
the early rulers of the Church prompted them to meet together 
for the discussion and settlement of ecclesiastical questions in 
which they felt a common interest. But when Christianity 
was still struggling for existence, it was not in a condition to 
form widely-spread organizations. The business of the early 
Church courts was conducted privately, they were attended 

1 Cyprian, Epist. Ixviii., § 256. 

2 The new bishop was often chosen before the interment of his predeces- 
sor ; and even when the senior presbyter was the president, it is probable 
that the neighboring pastors assembled to attend the funeral of the de- 
ceased pastor, and to be present at the inauguration of his successor. See 
Bingham, i. 150. 

3 See chapter vi. of this Section, p. 476. 



556 EARLY SYNODS CONDEMNED MONTANISM. 

by but few members, and they were generally composed of 
those pastors and elders who resided in the same district and 
who could conveniently assemble on short notice. Their 
meetings, in all likelihood, were summoned at irregular inter- 
vals, and were held, to avoid suspicion, sometimes in one city 
and sometimes in another ; and, except when an exciting 
question awakened deep and general anxiety, the representa- 
tives of the Churches of a whole province rarely ventured on 
a united convention. Our ignorance of the councils of the 
early part of the second century arises simply from the fact 
that no writer during that interval registered their acts ; and 
we have now no means of accurately filling up this blank in the 
history. But we have good grounds for believing that Gnosti- 
cism now formed the topic of discussion in several synods. 1 
The errorists, we know, were driven out of the Church in all 
places ; and how can we account for this general expulsion 
except upon the principle of the united action of ecclesiastical 
judicatories? Jerome gives us to understand that their machi- 
nations led to a change in the ecclesiastical constitution, and 
that this change was effected by a synodical decree adopted 
all over the world 2 — thereby implying that presbyterial gov- 
ernment was already in universal operation. Montanism 
appeared Whilst Gnosticism was yet in its full strength, and 
this gloomy fanaticism created intense agitation. Many of the 
pastors, as well as of the people, were bewildered by its pre- 
tensions to inspiration, and by the sanctimony of its ascetic 
discipline. It immediately occupied the attention of the eccle- 
siastical courts, and its progress was arrested by their emphatic 
condemnation of its absurdities. It is certain that their inter- 
ference was judicial and decided. " When the faithful held 
frequent meetings in many places throughout Asia on account 
of this affair, and examined the novel doctrines, and pro- 

1 The old writer called Prsedestinatus speaks of several synods held in 
reference to the Gnostics before the middle of the second century. He may 
have had access to some documents now lost, but the testimony of a witness 
who lived in the fifth or sixth century is not of much value. 

2 " In toto orbe decretum est ut unus de presbyteris electus superponeretur 
caeteris." — Com. in Tz'tum.' 



THE PASCHAL CONTROVERSY. 557 

nounced them profane, and rejected them as heresy," the 
Montanist prophets " were in consequence driven out of the 
Church and excluded from communion." x 

The words just quoted are from the pen of an anonymous 
writer who flourished toward the end of the second or begin- 
ning of the third century; 2 and, though they supply the 
earliest distinct notice of synodical meetings, they do not even 
hint that such assemblies were of recent original. The Paschal 
controversy succeeded the Montanist agitation, and convulsed 
the whole Church from East to West by its frivolous discus- 
sions. The mode of keeping the Paschal festival had for 
nearly fifty years been a vexed question, but about the close 
of the second century it began to create bitter contention. 
Eusebius has given us an account of the affair, and his narra- 
tive throws great light on the state of the ecclesiastical com- 
munity at the time of its occurrence. " For this cause," says 
he, " there were synods and councils of bishops, and all, with 
according judgment, published in epistles an ecclesiastical de- 
cree There is still extant a letter from those who at 

that time were called together in Palestine, over whom pre- 
sided Theophilus, bishop of the parish of Caesarea, and Nar- 
cissus, bishop of the parish of Jerusalem. There is also 
another letter from those who were convoked at Rome 3 con- 
cerning the same question, which shows that Victor was then 
bishop. There is, too, a letter from the bishops of Pontus, over 
whom Palmas, as the senior pastor, presided. There is like- 
wise a letter from the parishes in Gaul of which Irenseus was 
president ; and another besides from the Churches in Osroene 
and the cities in that quarter." 4 

It is obvious from this statement that, before the termina- 

1 Euseb. v. 16. 2 See Routh's "Reliquiae," ii. 183, 195. 

3 Mosheim (" Commentaries " by Vidal, ii. 105) has made a vain attempt 
to set aside the Latin translation of this passage by Valesius, as it com- 
pletely upsets his favorite theory. But any one who carefully examines the 
Greek of Eusebius may see that the rendering complained of is quite cor- 
rect. It can not be necessary to point out to the intelligent reader the 
transparent sophistry of nearly all that Mosheim has written on this subject. 

4 Euseb. v. 23. 



558 tertullian's testimony concerning synods. 

tion of the second century, synodical government was estab- 
lished throughout the whole Church ; for we here trace its 
operation in France, in Mesopotamia or Osroene, in Italy, 
Pontus, and Palestine. This passage also illustrates the prog- 
ress of the changes which were taking place at the period 
under review in the constitution of ecclesiastical judicatories. 
As the president of the presbytery was at first the senior 
elder, so the president of the synod was at first the senior 
pastor. At this time the primitive arrangement had not been 
altogether superseded ; for at the meeting of the bishops of 
Pontus, Palmas, as being the oldest member present, was called 
to occupy the chair of the moderator. But elsewhere this 
ancient regulation had been set aside, and in some places no 
new principle had yet been adopted. At the synod of Pales- 
tine the jealousy of two rivals for the presidency led to a 
rather awkward compromise. Csesarea was the seat of govern- 
ment, and on that ground its bishop could challenge prece- 
dence of every other in the district, but the Church of Jerusa- 
lem was the mother of the entire Christian community, and 
its pastor, now a hundred years of age, 1 considered that he 
was entitled to fill the place of dignity. For the sake of peace 
the assembled fathers agreed to appoint two chairmen, and 
accordingly Theophilus of Caesarea and Narcissus of Jerusalem 
presided jointly in the synod of Palestine. In the synod of 
Rome there was no one to dispute the pretensions of Bishop 
Victor. As the chief pastor of the great metropolitan Church, 
he seems, as a matter of course, to have taken possession of 
the presidential office. 

A few years after the Paschal controversy the celebrated 
Tertullian became entangled in the errors of Montanism, and 
in vindication of his own principles published a tract " Con- 
cerning Fasts," in which there is a passing reference to the 
subject of ecclesiastical convocations. "Among the Greek 
nations," says he, "these councils of the whole Church are 
held in fixed places, in which, whilst certain important ques- 
tions are discussed, the representation of the whole Christian 

1 See Period ii., sec. iii., chap, v., p. 463. 



TERTULLIAN S TESTIMONY CONCERNING SYNODS. 559 

name is also celebrated with great solemnity. And how wor- 
thy is this of a faith which expects to have its converts gath- 
ered from all parts to Christ ? See how good and how pleasant 
a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! You do 
not well know how to sing this, except when you are holding 
communion with many. But those conventions, after they 
have been first employed in prayers and fasting, know how to 
mourn with the mourners, and thus at length to rejoice with 
those that rejoice." 1 

Greek was spoken throughout a great part of the Roman 
Empire, and at this period it was used even by the chief 
pastors of the Italian capital, so that when Tertullian men- 
tions the Greek nations? he employs an expression of equivo- 
cal significance. But, no doubt, he refers chiefly to the 
mother country and its colonies on the other side of the 
^Egean Sea, or to Greece and Asia Minor. It is apparent 
from the apostolic epistles, most of which are addressed to 
Churches within their borders, that the Gospel, at an early 
date, spread extensively and rapidly in these countries ; and, 
at least in some districts, its adherents must have now made 
a considerable figure in any denominational census. They 
were thus emboldened to erect their ecclesiastical courts on 
a broader basis, as well as to hold their meetings with greater 
publicity, than heretofore ; and, as these assemblies were at- 
tended, not only by the pastors and the elders, but also by 
many deacons and ordinary church members who were 
anxious to witness their deliberations, Tertullian alleges, in 
his own rhetorical style of expression, that in them " the rep- 
resentation of the whole Christian name was celebrated with 
great solemnity." 8 These Greek councils commenced with a 

1 Tertullian, " De Jejun." c. xiii. 

2 " Aguntur prasterea per Grcecias ilia certis in locis concilia ex universis 
ecclesiis." 

3 " Ipsa representatio totius nominis Christiani magna veneratione cele- 
bratur." Mosheim argues from these words that the bishops attended 
these assemblies, not by right of office, but as representatives of the peo- 
ple I He might, with more plausibility, have contended that they were 
held only once a year. " Ista sollemnia quibus tunc praesens patrocinatus 
est sermo." 



560 tertullian's testimony concerning synods. 

period of fasting — a circumstance by which they were dis- 
tinguished from similar meetings convened elsewhere, and as 
they thus supplied him with an argument in favor of one of 
the grand peculiarities of the discipline of Montanism, it is 
obviously for this reason they are here so prominently no- 
ticed. If, as he contends, these facts were kept so religiously 
by the representatives of the Church when in attendance on 
some of their most solemn assemblies, there might, after all, 
be a warrant for the observance of that more rigid abstinence 
which he now inculcated. But though this passage of Ter- 
tullian is the only authority adduced to prove that councils 
originated in Greece, it is plain that it gives no sanction 
whatever to any such theory. Neither does it afford the 
slightest foundation for the inference that, at the time when 
it was written, these ecclesiastical convocations were un 
known in Africa and Italy. We have direct proof that be- 
fore this period they not only met in Rome, but that the 
bishop of the great city had been in the habit of requesting 
his brother pastors in other countries to hold such assemblies. 1 
There is, too, satisfactory evidence that they were now not 
unknown at Carthage, 3 and Tertullian himself elsewhere re- 
fers to the proceedings of African synods. 3 He must have 
been well aware that they had recently assembled in various 
parts of the West to pronounce judgment in the Paschal con- 
troversy ; for the decisions of the Gallic and Roman synods 
mentioned by Eusebius were published all over the Church ; 
and the reason why he refers to the convocations of the 
Greeks was, not because such meetings were not held in other 

1 Euseb. v. 24. Hippolytus complains of a bishop of Rome that he was 
"ignorant of the ecclesiastical rules," — a plain proof, not only that synods 
were in existence in the West, but also that a knowledge of canon law was 
considered an important accomplishment. See Bunsen, ii. 223. 

2 Cyprian (Epist. lxxiii.) speaks of a large council held " many years " be- 
fore his time " under Agrippinus," one of his predecessors. This bishop 
was contemporary with Tertullian. 

3 In his book " De Pudicitia," c. 10, he speaks of the "Pastor" of Her- 
mas as classed among apocryphal productions " ab omni concilio ecclesia- 
rum " — implying that it had been condemned by African councils as well as 
others. 



SYNODS AND THE AMPHICTYONIC COUNCIL. 56 1 

lands, but because these, from their peculiar method of pro- 
cedure in the way of fasting, 1 supplied, as he conceived, a 
very apposite argument in support of the discipline he was so 
desirous to recommend. 

If historians have erred in stating that synods commenced 
in Greece, they have been still more egregiously mistaken in 
asserting that the once famous Amphictyonic Council sug- 
gested their establishment, and furnished the model for their 
construction. In the second century of the Christian era the 
Council of the Amphictyons was shorn of its glory, and 
though it then continued to meet,* it had long ceased to be 
either an exponent of the national mind, or a free and inde- 
pendent assembly. It is not to be imagined that the Chris- 
tian community, in the full vigor of its early growth, would 
all at once have abandoned its apostolic constitution, and 
adopted a form of government borrowed from an effete insti- 
tute. Synods, which now formed so prominent a part of the 
ecclesiastical polity, could claim a higher and holier original. 
They were the legitimate development of the primitive struct- 
ure of the Church, for they could be traced up to that meet- 
ing of the apostles and elders at Jerusalem which relieved the 
Gentile converts from the observance of the right of circum- - 
cision. 

The most plausible argument in support of the theory that 
the Amphictyonic Council suggested the establishment of 
synodical conventions is based on the alleged fact that these 
ecclesiastical meetings were at first held in spring and autumn, 
or exactly at the times when the Greek political deputies 
were accustomed to assemble. 3 But this statement, when 
closely examined, is found to be quite destitute of evidence. 
Tertullian does not say that the Greek synods met twice a 
year, and we know that, at least half a century afterward, 
they assembled only annually. This fact is attested by Fir- 

1 The prevalence of the Montanistic spirit in Asia Minor may account for 
this. 

2 See Potter's "Antiquities of Greece," i. 106. It consisted of only about 
thirty members. 

3 See Mosheim's " Commentaries," cent, ii., sect. 22. 

36 



562 GREEK COUNCILS HELD IN FIXED PLACES. 

milian of Cappadocia, in his celebrated letter to Cyprian. 
" It is of necessity arranged among us," says he, " that we 
elders and presidents meet every year ' to set in order the 
things intrusted to our charge, that if there be any matters 
of grave moment they may be settled by common advice." * 
The author of this epistle lived in the very country where 
synods are supposed to have assembled so much more fre- 
quently half a century before, so that his evidence demon- 
strates the fallacy of the hypothesis adopted by some modern 
historians. 

About the beginning of the third century, or at the time 
when Tertullian wrote, the members of the Greek synods 
acted on an arrangement not then commonly adopted ; for 
they met together in " fixed places." These " fixed places " 
were the metropolitan cities of the respective provinces. The 
pastors and elders had not yet generally agreed to recognize 
the chief pastor of the metropolitan city as the constant 
moderator of the synod. In the case of the bishop of Rome 
the rule was already established ; but, in other instances, the 
senior pastor present was the president. The constant meet- 
ing of the synod in the principal town of the province 
tended, however, to increase the influence of its bishop ; and 
he was at length almost everywhere acknowledged as the 
proper chairman. 3 At the Council of Nice in A.D. 325 his 
rights were formally secured by ecclesiastical enactment. 
About the same date synods commenced to assemble with 
greater frequency. " Let there be a meeting of the bishops 
twice a year," says the thirty-seventh of the so-called Apos- 
tolical Canons, " and let them examine among themselves the 
decrees concerning religion, and settle the ecclesiastical con- 
troversies which have occurred. One meeting is to be held 
in the fourth week of the Pentecost, and the other on the 
1 2th day of the month of October." 4 

1 " Per singnlos annos seniores et prsepositi in unum conveniamus." 

2 Cyprian, Epist. lxxv., pp. 302, 303. 

3 In Africa, however, this arrangement was not established even in the 
fifth century. There, the senior bishop still continued president. 

4 This canon differs from the fifth of the Council of Nice, as the latter re- 






THE EARLY CHURCH GOVERNED BY SYNODS. 563 

As soon as the light of historical records begins to illustrate 
the condition of any portion of the ancient Church, its synodi- 
cal government is discovered ; and though the literary memo- 
rials of the third century are comparatively few, they are 
amply sufficient to demonstrate that ecclesiastical courts, on a 
tolerably extensive scale, were then everywhere established. 
About that time the controversy relative to the propriety of 
rebaptizing heretics awakened much acrimonious feeling, and 
the subject was keenly discussed in the synods which met for 
its consideration. Nowhere is any hint given that these 
courts were of recent origin. Though meeting in so many 
places in the East and West, and in countries so far apart, 
they are invariably represented as the ancient order of ecclesi- 
astical regimen. They all appear, too, as co-ordinate and in- 
dependent judicatories ; and though the Roman bishop, as 
the chief pastor of the Catholic Church, endeavored to induce 
them to adopt uniform decisions, his attempts to dictate to 
the brethren in Spain, Africa, and other countries were firmly 
and indignantly repulsed. There were fundamental principles 
which they were all understood to acknowledge ; these prin- 
ciples were generally embodied in the divine Statute-book ; it 
was admitted that the decisions of every council which adhered 
to them were entitled to universal reverence ; but, though the 
reservation was scarcely compatible with the genius of cath- 
olicity, each provincial convention claimed the right of form- 
ing its own judgment of the acts of other courts, and of adopt- 
ing or rejecting them accordingly. 

The most influential synods held before the establishment 
of Christianity by Constantine, were those which met in the 
latter part of the third century, to try the case of the famous 
Paul of Samosata, the bishop of Antioch. The charge pre- 
ferred against him was the denial of the proper deity of the 
Son of God ; and as he was an individual of much ability and 
address, as well as, in point of rank, one of the greatest prel- 
ates in existence, his case awakened uncommon interest. 

quires the first meeting to be held " before Lent. " It is doubtful which 
canon is of higher antiquity. 



564 THE SYNODS OF ANTIOCH. 

Christianity had recently obtained the sanction of a legal tol- 
eration, 1 and therefore churchmen now ventured to travel from 
different provinces to sit in judgment on this noted heresi- 
arch. In the councils which assembled at Antioch were to be 
found, not only the pastors of Syria, but also those of various 
places in Palestine and Asia Minor. Even Dionysius, bishop 
of the capital of Egypt, was invited to be present ; tut he 
pleaded his age and infirmities as an apology for his non- 
attendance. 2 In a council which assembled A.D. 269/ Paul was 
deposed and excommunicated; and the sentence, which was 
announced by letter to the chief pastors of Rome, Alexandria, 
and other distinguished sees, was received with general appro- 
bation. 

All the information we possess respecting the councils of 
the first three centuries is extremely scanty, so that it is no 
easy matter exactly to ascertain their constitution ; but we 
can not question the correctness of the statement of Firmil- 
ian of Cappadocia, who was himself a prominent actor in sev- 
eral of the most famous of these assemblies, and who affirms 
that they were composed of " elders and presiding pastors." 4 
We have seen that bishops and elders anciently united even 
in episcopal ordinations ; and these ministers, when assembled 
on such occasions, constituted ecclesiastical judicatories. A 
modern writer, of high standing in connection with the Uni- 
versity of Oxford, has affirmed that " bishops alone had a 
definitive voice in synods," b but the testimonies which he has 
himself adduced prove the inaccuracy of the assertion. The 

1 Under Gallienus, about a.d. 260. 2 Euseb. vii. 27. 

3 This was the third council held on account of Paul, as it is stated in the 
synodical epistle that Firmilian came twice to Antioch and died on his way 
to it at this time. At the preceding councils Firmilian seems to have pre- 
sided. See Pusey on the Councils, p. 92, note. Dr. Burton says, "It 
being generally the custom/or the oldest bishop to preside at these councils, it 
is probable that this distinction was given at present to Firmilianus." — Led. 
Ecc. Hist, of First Three Cent., ii. 390. The rank of his city could not 
$ave given him a claim. 

4 " Seniores et propositi." — Epist. Cypriani, Opera, p. 302. 

8 " The Councils of the Church," by Rev. E. B. Pusey, D.D., p. 34. 
Oxford, 1857. 



BISHOPS AND ELDERS SIT TOGETHER. 565 

presbyter Origen, at an Arabian synod held in A.D. 229, sat 
with the bishops, and was, in fact, the most important and 
influential member of the convention. In A.D. 230, Demetrius 
of Alexandria " gathered a council of bishops and of certain 
presbyters, which decreed that Origen should remove from 
Alexandria." 1 About the middle of the third century, " dur- 
ing the vacancy of the see of Rome, the presbyters of the city 
took part in the first Roman council on the lapsed." 2 At the 
council of Eliberis, held in A.D. 305, no less than twenty-six 
presbyters sat along with the bishops. 3 In some cases dea- 
cons, 4 and even laymen, were permitted to address synods ; 5 
but ancient documents attest that they were never regarded 
as constituent members. Whilst the bishops and eiders sat 
together, and thus proclaimed their equality as ecclesiastical 
judges, 6 the people and even the deacons were obliged to 
stand. The circular letter of the council of Antioch announc- 
ing the deposition of Paul of Samosata is written in the name 
of " bishops, and presbyters, and deacons, and the Churches of 
God"; 7 but there is reason to believe that the latter are 
added merely as a matter of prudence, and in testimony of 
their cordial approval of the ecclesiastical verdict. The here- 
siarch had left no art unemployed to acquire popularity, and 
it was necessary to show that he had lost the influence on 
which he had been calculating. It is obvious that the pas- 
tors and elders alone were permitted to adjudicate, for why 
were they assembled from various quarters to uphold the doc- 
trine and discipline of the Church, if the people who were 
themselves tainted with heresy or guilty of irregularity, had 
the liberty of voting? Under such circumstances, the decis- 
ion would have been substantially, not the decree of the 

1 Pusey, p. 58. 9 Ibid., p. 66. 3 Ibid., p. 95. 

4 As in the case of Athanasius at the Council of Nice. 

5 As witnesses and commissioners may still be heard by Church courts. 

6 " Graviter commoti sumus ego et collegae mei qui praesentes aderant et 
compresbyteri nostri qui nobis assidebant." — Cyprian, Epist. lxvi., p. 245. 
M Residentibus etiam viginti et sex presbyter is, adstantibus diaconibus et 
omni plebe." — Concil. Illiberit. 

7 Euseb. vii. 30. 



566 INFLUENCE OF MEETINGS OF ELDERS. 

Church rulers, but of the multitude of the particular city in 
which they were congregated. 

The theory of some modern ecclesiastical historians, who 
hold that all the early Christian congregations were originally 
independent, can not bear the ordeal of careful investigation. 
Whilst it directly conflicts with the testimony of Jerome, who 
declares that the churches were at first " governed by the 
common council of the presbyters," it is otherwise destitute of 
evidence. As soon as the light of ecclesiastical memorials 
begins to guide our path, we find presbyteries and synods 
everywhere in existence. Congregationalism has no solid 
foundation either in Scripture or antiquity. The eldership, 
the most ancient court of the Church, cpmmenced with the 
first preaching of the Gospel ; and in the account of the meet- 
ing of the Twelve to induct the deacons into office, we have 
the record of the first ordination performed by the laying on 
of the hands of the presbytery of Jerusalem. A few years 
afterward the representatives of several Christian communi- 
ties assembled in the holy city and " ordained decrees " for 
the guidance of the Jewish and Gentile Churches. The con- 
tinuous development of the same form of ecclesiastical regimen 
has now been illustrated. This polity was based upon the prin- 
ciple that " in the multitude of counsellors there is safety." l 
At the meetings of the elders, information was multiplied, 
the intellect was sharpened, the brethren were made better 
acquainted with each other, and the Christian cause enjoyed 
the benefit of the decisions of their collective wisdom. The 
members had been previously elected to office by the voice of 
the people, so that the Church had pre-eminently a free con- 
stitution. And it is no mean proof as well of the intrepidity 
as of the zeal of the early Christian ministers that, at a time 
when their religion was proscribed, they sometimes undertook 
lengthened journeys for the purpose of meeting in ecclesiasti- 
cal judicatories. They thus nobly asserted the principle that 
Christ has established in His Church a government with which 
the civil magistrate has no right whatever to intermeddle. It 

1 Prov. xi. 14. 



SYNODS PERVERTED BY THE CITY BISHOPS. 567 

has been said that the early Christian councils " changed 
nearly the whole form of the Church," and that by them " the 
influence and authority of the bishops were not a little aug- 
mented. ,M This is obviously quite a mistaken view of their 
native tendency. The face of the Church was changed at an 
early period, simply because these councils yielded with too 
much facility to the spirit of innovation. Had they been 
always conducted in accordance with primitive arrangements, 
they could have crushed in the bud the aspirations of clerical 
ambition. But when the city ministers were rapidly accumu- 
lating wealth, their brethren in rural districts remained poor ; 
and when councils began to meet on a scale of increased mag- 
nitude, the village and country pastors, who could not afford 
the expenses of lengthened journeys, were unable to attend. 
Meanwhile Prelacy established itself in the great towns, and 
the influence of the city bishops began gradually to prepon- 
derate in all ecclesiastical assemblies. When the prelates had 
once secured their ascendency in these conventions, they made 
use of the machinery for their own purposes. The people 
were deprived of many of their rights and privileges ; the 
elders were stripped of their proper status ; the village and 
rural bishops were extinguished ; and at length the ancient 
presbytery itself disappeared. The city dignitaries became 
the sole depositories of ecclesiastical power, and the Church 
lost nearly every vestige of its freedom. But, long after the 
beginning of the fourth century, many remnants of the primi- 
tive polity still survived as memorials of its departed excel- 
lence. 

1 Mosheim's " Institutes," by Soames, i. 150. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE CEREMONIES AND DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH AS 

ILLUSTRATED BY CURRENT CONTROVERSIES 

AND DIVISIONS. 

When the Christian community was contending against the 
Gnostics, other controversies contributed to prejudice its 
claims in the sight of the heathen. The destruction of the 
temple of Jerusalem by Titus had prevented the sticklers for 
the Mosaic law from practicing many of their ancient cere- 
monies ; but there were parts of their ritual, such as circum- 
cision, to which they still adhered, as these could be observed 
when the altar and the sanctuary no longer existed. In the 
reign of Hadrian a division of sentiment relative to the continued 
obligation of the Levitical code led to a great change in the 
mother Church of Christendom. About A.D. 132, an advent- 
urer, named Barcochebas, pretending to be the Messiah, and 
aiming at temporal dominion, appeared in Palestine ; the 
Jews, in great numbers, flocked to his standard ; and the rebel 
chief contrived for three years to maintain a bloody war 
against the strength of the Roman legions. The Israelitish 
race, by their conduct at this juncture, grievously offended the 
Emperor; and when he rebuilt Jerusalem, under the name of 
Aelia Capitolina, he threatened them with the severest pen- 
alties should they be found either in the city or the suburbs. 
Some of the Jewish Christians of the place, anxious to escape 
the proscription, resolved to give up altogether the observance 
of circumcision. Others, however, objected to this course, and 
persisted in maintaining the permanent obligation of the 
Mosaic ritual. The dissentients, called Nazarenes, formed 
themselves into a separate community, which obtained ad-. 
(568) 



THE NAZARENES. 569 

herents elsewhere, and subsisted for several centuries. At 
first they differed from other Christians chiefly in their ad- 
herence to the initiatory ordinance of Judaism ; but eventu- 
ally they adopted erroneous principles in regard to the person 
of our Lord, and were in consequence ranked among heretics. 1 
In the history of the Church, the Nazarenes occupy a sin- 
gular and unique position. Their name is among the earliest 
designations by which the followers of our Saviour were known, 2 
and though by many they have been called the First Dis- 
senters, they were the lineal descendants of the most ancient 
stock of Christians in the world. The rite for which they con- 
tended had been practiced in the Church of Jerusalem since 
its very establishment ; the ministers by whom they had been 
taught had been instructed by the apostles themselves ; and 
all the elders connected with the holy city joined the seces- 
sion. It is alleged that a number of Christians of Gentile 
origin, uniting with those of their brethren of Jewish descent 
who agreed to relinquish the Hebrew ceremonies, chose an 
individual, named Marcus, for their chief pastor, and that at 
this period the succession in the line of the circumcision 
" failed." 3 This statement can not signify that some dire 
calamity had swept away all the old presbytery of Jerusalem. 
It indicates that none of its members joined the party whose 
principles now obtained the ascendency. And yet, though 
the adherents of Marcus were charged with innovation, they 
acted under the sanction of apostolical authority. They very 
properly refused to continue any longer in bondage to the 
beggarly elements of a ritual long since superseded. Though 
the seceders could urge that they were of apostolical descent, 
and that they were supported by ancient custom, it must be 
admitted, after all, that they were but a company of deluded 
and narrow-minded bigots. The evangelical pastors of the 
primitive Church repudiated their zeal for ritualism, and gave 
the right hand of fellowship to Marcus and his newly-organ- 

1 See Mosheim's " Commentaries," cent, ii., sec. 39 ; American edition by 
Murdock. 

2 Acts xxiv. 5. 3 Euseb*. iv. 5. 



570 THE NAMES EASTER AND WHITSUNDAY. 

ized community. The history of the mother Church of 
Christendom in the early part of the second century is thus 
fraught with lessons of the gravest wisdom. We see from it 
that the true successors of the apostles were not those who 
occupied their seats, or who were able to trace from them a 
ministerial lineage, but those who inherited their spirit, taught 
their doctrines, and imitated their example. 
' Though, in this instance, the disciples at Jerusalem nobly 
emancipated themselves from the yoke of circumcision, it ap- 
pears, from a controversy which created great confusion sixty 
years afterward, that the whole Church was disposed, to some 
extent, to conform to another Judaic ordinance. The embers 
of this dispute had been for some time smouldering before 
they attracted much notice ; but, about the termination of the 
second century, they broke out into a flame which spread from 
Rome to Jerusalem. The name of Easter l was yet unknown, 
and the Paschal feast, at least in some places, had been then 
only recently established ; but at an early period there was a 
sprinkling of Jewish Christians in almost every Church 
throughout the Empire, and they had at length induced their 
fellow-disciples to mark the seasons of the Passover and Pen- 
tecost 3 by certain special observances. The Passover was re- 
garded as the more solemn feast, and was kept by the Chris- 
tians in much the same way in which it had been celebrated 
by the Jews before the fall of Jerusalem. A lamb was shut 
up on a certain day ; it was afterward roasted ; and then eaten 
by the brotherhood. 3 The time for this observance, and some 

1 The English name Easter is derived from that of a Teutonic goddess 
(Eostre) whose festival was celebrated by the ancient Saxons in the month 
of April, and for which the Paschal feast was substituted. See Sharon Tur- 
ner's " History of the Anglo-Saxons," ii. 15. 

2 Pentecost, called Whitsunday or White-Sunday, on account, as some 
allege, of the white garments worn by those who then received baptism, 
was observed as early as the beginning of the third century. Origen, " Con- 
tra Celsum," book viii. Tertullian, "De Idololatria," c. 14. We have then 
no trace of the observation of Christmas. See Kaye's " Tertullian," p. 413. 
The celebrated Saxon festival of Geol, or Jule, occurred at the period of 
our Christmas. Sharon Turner's " History of the Anglo-Saxons," ii. 19. 

3 See Mosheim's "Commentaries," by Murdock, cent, ii., sec. 71. Dr. 



VICTOR AND THE QUARTO-DECIMANS. 571 

other circumstantials, now formed topics of earnest and pro- 
tracted discussion. '• One party, known as the Quarto-deci- 
mans, or Fourteenth Day Men, held that the Paschal feast 
should be kept on the day when the Jews had been accus- 
tomed to eat the Passover, that is, on the fourteenth day of 
the first month of the Jewish year ; 1 and they celebrated the 
festival of the resurrection on the seventeenth day of the 
month, that is, on the third day after partaking of the Pas- 
chal lamb, whether that happened to be the first day of the 
week or otherwise. The other party strenuously maintained 
that the eating of the Paschal lamb ought to be postponed till 
the night preceding the first Lord's day next following the 
fourteenth day of the first month. They recognized this next 
Lord's day as the festival of our Saviour's resurrection, and 
they considered that the whole of the preceding week till the 
close should be kept as a fast not to be interrupted by the 
eating of the Passover. 

The most determined Quarto-decimans were to be found in 
Asia Minor, and at their head was Polycrates, the chief pastor 
of Ephesus. At the head of the other party was Victor, bish- 
op of Rome. The Church over which he presided did not 
originally observe any such appointment, 2 but some of its 
members of Jewish extraction were, on that account, dissatis- 
fied ; and about the time of the establishment of the Catholic 
system, the matter was settled by a compromise. It was then 
arranged that the festival should be kept ; but to avoid the 
imputation of symbolizing with the Jews, the Friday of the 

Schaff seems disposed to deny this, but he assigns no reasons. See his 
"Hist, of the Christ. Church," p. 374. 

1 Even as to this point there is not unanimity — some alleging that our 
Lord partook of the Paschal lamb on the night preceding that on which it 
was eaten by the Jews. 

2 This is distinctly asserted by Irenasus. " Anicetus and Pius, Hyginus 
with Telesphorus and Xystus, neither did themselves observe, nor did they 
permit those after them to observe it. And yet though they themselves did 
not keep it, they were not the less at peace with those from churches where 
it was kept, whenever they came to them, although to keep it then was so 
much the more in opposition to those who did not." — Euseb. v. 24. See 
also Cooper's " Free Church of Ancient Christendom," p. 247. 



572 UNCERTAINTY OF TRADITION. 

Paschal week and the Lord's day following, or the day on 
which our Saviour suffered and the day on which He rose 
from the dead, were selected as the great days of observance. 
This arrangement was pretty generally accepted by those con- 
nected with what now began to be called the Catholic Church ; 
but some parties pertinaciously refused to conform. Victor, 
as the head of the Catholic confederation, deemed it his duty 
to exact obedience from all its members ; and, deeply morti- 
fied because the Asiatic Churches persisted in their own 
usages, shut them out from his communion. But it was 
soon evident that the Church was not prepared for such an 
exercise of authority, as the Asiatics refused to yield ; and 
when some of Victor's best friends protested against the im- 
prudence of his procedure, the ecclesiastical thunderbolt 
proved an impotent demonstration. * 

The Paschal controversy was far from creditable to any of 
the parties concerned. The eating of a lamb on a particular 
day was a fragment of an antiquated ceremonial ; and as the 
ordinance itself had been superseded, the time of its observ- 
ance was not a legitimate question for debate. Each party 
endeavored to fortify its own position by quoting the names 
of Paul or Peter or Philip or John ; but had any one of these 
apostles risen from the dead and appeared in the ecclesiastical 
arena, he would have rebuked all the disputants for their triv- 
ial and unholy wrangling. We have here a notable proof of 
the absurdity of appealing to tradition. Within a hundred 
years after the death of the last survivor of the Twelve its tes- 
timony was most discordant, for the tradition of the Western 
Churches, as propounded by Victor, expressly contradicted 
the tradition of the Eastern Churches, as attested by Polyc- 
rates. In this case the apostles were misrepresented. Peter 
and Paul certainly never taught the members of the Church 
of Rome to eat the Paschal lamb ; for the Jewish temple con- 
tinued standing till after both had finished their career, and 
meanwhile the eating of the Passover was confined to those 
who went up to worship at Jerusalem. Philip and John may 
have continued to keep the feast according to the ancient rit- 
ual till shortly before the ruin of the holy city ; and if, after^ 



EASTER FESTIVAL UNNECESSARY. ^73 

ward, they permitted the converts from Judaism to kill a lamb 
and to have a social repast at the same season of the year, they 
attached no religious importance to the observance. But now 
that both parties were heated by the spirit of rivalry and con- 
tention, they extracted from tradition a testimony which it 
did not supply. Vague reports and equivocal statements, 
handed down from ages preceding, were compelled to. convey 
a meaning very different from that which they primarily com- 
municated ; and thus the voice of one tradition was employed 
to neutralize the authority of another. 

It is a curious fact that the custom which now created such 
violent excitement gradually passed into desuetude. At pres- 
ent there are few places * where the eating of the Paschal lamb 
is continued. But otherwise the practice for which Victor 
contended eventually prevailed, as the Roman mode of cele- 
bration was established by the authority of the Council of 
Nice. What is called Easter Sunday is still observed in 
many Churches as the festival of the resurrection. But the 
institution of such a festival is unnecessary, as each returning 
Lord's day should remind the Christian that his Saviour has 
risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that 
sleep. 2 

This Paschal controversy generated no schism, but other 
disputes, which subsequently occurred, did not terminate so 
peacefully. About the middle of the third century disagree- 
ments respecting matters of discipline rent the Churches of 

1 The Armenians, the Copts, and others, still observe this rite. Mosheim's 
"Comment.," cent, ii., sec. 71. As to the continuance of this custom at 
Rome, see Bingham, v. 36, 37. 

2 Socrates, an ecclesiastical historian of the fifth century, has expressed 
himself with remarkable candor on this subject. " It appears to me," says 
he, "that neither the ancients nor moderns who have affected to follow the 
Jews have had any rational foundation for contending so obstinately about 
it (Easter). For they have altogether lost sight of the fact that when our 
religion superseded the Jewish economy, the obligation to observe the Mo- 
saic law and the ceremonial types ceased The Saviour and His apos- 
tles have enjoined us by no law to keep this feast : nor in the New Testa- 
ment are we threatened with any penalty, punishment, or curse for the neg- 
lect of it, as the Mosaic law does the Jews." — Ecc. Hist,, v., c. 22. 



574 THE LAPSED AND THE TICKETS OF PEACE. 

Carthage and Rome. At Carthage, the malcontents sought 
for greater laxity ; at Rome, they contended for greater strict- 
ness. At that time the confessors and the martyrs, or those 
who had persevered in their adherence to the faith under 
pains and penalties, and those who had suffered for it unto 
death, were held in the highest veneration. They had been 
even permitted in some places to dictate to the existing eccle- 
siastical rulers by granting what were called tickets of peace ' 
to the lapsed, that is, to those who had apostatized in a season 
of persecution, and who had afterward sought readmission 
to Church communion. These certificates, or tickets of peace, 
were understood to entitle the parties in whose favor they were 
drawn up to be admitted forthwith to the Lord's Supper. 
But it sometimes happened that a confessor or a martyr was 
himself far from a paragon of excellence, 2 as mere obstinacy, 
or pride, or self-righteousness, may occasionally hold out as 
firmly as a higher principle ; and a man may give his body to 
be burned who does not possess one atom of the grace of 
Christian charity. There were confessors and martyrs in the 
third century who held very loose views on the subject of 
Church discipline, and who gave tickets of peace without 
much inquiry or consideration. 3 In some instances they did 
not condescend so far as to name the parties to whom they 
supplied recommendations, but directed that a particular in- 
dividual " and his friends" 4 should be restored to ecclesiastical 
fellowship. Cyprian of Carthage at length determined to set his 
face against this system of testimonials. He held that the ticket 
of a martyr was no sufficient proof of the penitence of the party 

1 This system was in existence in the time of Tertullian. See Tertullian, 
" Ad. Martyr." c. i, and " De Pudicitia," c. 22. 

2 Cyprian speaks of a confessor spending his time " in drunkenness and 
revelling" {Epist. vi., p. 37), and of some guilty of "fraud, fornication, and 
adultery." {De Unit. Ecc, p. 404.) 

8 Thus Cyprian says, " Lucianus, not only while Paulus was still in prison, 
gave letters in his name indiscriminately written with his own hand, but 
even after his decease continued to do the same in his name, saying that he 
had been ordered to do so by Paulus." — Epist. xxii., p. 77. 

4 Cyprian, Epist. x„ p. 52. 






THE SCHISM OF FELIC1SSIMUS. 575 

who tendered it, and that each application for readmission to 
membership should be decided on its own merits, by the proper 
Church authorities. The bishop was already obnoxious to 
some of the presbyters and people of Carthage ; and, in the 
hope of undermining his authority, his enemies eagerly seized 
on his refusal to recognize these certificates. They endeavored 
to create a prejudice against him by alleging that he was act- 
ing dictatorially, and that he was not rendering due honor to 
those who had so nobly imperilled or sacrificed their lives in 
the service of the Gospel. To a certain extent their oppo- 
sition was successful ; and, as much sickness prevailed at the 
time, Cyprian was obliged to concede so far as to consent to 
give the Eucharist, on the tickets of peace, to those who had 
lapsed, and who were apparently approaching dissolution. 
But, soon afterward, strengthened by the decision of an 
African Synod, he returned to his original position, and the 
parties now became hopelessly alienated. The leader of the 
secession was a deacon of the Carthaginian Church, named 
Felicissimus, and from him the schism which occurred has re- 
ceived its designation. The Separatists chose a presbyter, 
named Fortunatus, as their bishop, and thus in the capital of 
the Proconsular Africa a new sect was organized. But the se- 
cession, which was based upon a principle thoroughly unsound, 
soon dwindled into insignificance, and rapidly passed into ob- 
livion. 

The schism which occurred about the same time at Rome 
was of a more formidable and permanent character. It had 
long been the opinion of a certain party in the Church that 
persons who had committed certain heinous sins should never 
again be readmitted to ecclesiastical fellowship. 1 Those who 
held this principle did not pretend to say that these transgres- 
sions were unpardonable ; it was admitted that the offenders 
might obtain forgiveness from God ; but it was alleged that 
the Church on earth could never receive them to communion. 

1 Apostasy in time of persecution was considered a mortal sin. Adultery 
was placed in the same category. Cyprian, Epist. lii., p. 155. At one time 
Cyprian himself held the sentiments of the stricter party. See his " Script- 
ure Testimonies against the Jews," book iii., § 28, p. 563. 



576 THE SCHISM OF NOVATIAN. 

Cornelius, the bishop of Rome, supported a milder system, 
and contended that those who were not hopelessly excluded 
from the peace of God should not be inexorably debarred 
from the visible pledges of his affection. The leader of the 
stricter party was Novatian, a Roman presbyter of pure morals 
and considerable ability, who has left behind him one of the 
best treatises in defence of the Trinity which the ecclesiastical 
literature of antiquity can supply. This individual was or- 
dained bishop in opposition to Cornelius ; and, for a time, 
some of the most distinguished pastors of the age found it 
difficult to decide between these two claimants of the great 
bishopric. The high character of Novatian, and the supposed 
tendency of his discipline to preserve the credit and promote 
the purity of the Church, secured him considerable support ; the 
sect which derived its designation from him spread into various 
countries ; and, for several generations, the Novatians could 
challenge comparison, as to soundness in the faith and pro- 
priety of general conduct, with those who assumed the name 
of Catholics. 

The agitation caused by the Novatian schism had not yet 
subsided when another controversy respecting the propriety 
of rebaptizing those designated heretics created immense ex- 
citement. Cyprian at the head of one party maintained that 
the baptism of heretical ministers was not to be recognized, 
and that the ordinance should again be dispensed to such 
sectaries as sought admission to catholic communion ; whilst 
Stephen of Rome as strenuously affirmed that the rite was 
not to be repeated. It is rather singular that the Italian prel- 
ate, on this occasion, pleaded for the more liberal principle ; 
but various considerations conspired to prompt him to pursue 
this course. When heresies were only germinating, and when 
what was afterward called the Catholic Church was but in 
process of formation, no one seems to have thought of re- 
baptizing those to whom the ordinance had already been dis- 
pensed by any reputed Christian minister. 1 In the time of 

1 The imposition of hands, by an orthodox pastor, was deemed sufficient 
to make up what was wanting in the heretical baptism. See Euseb. vii. 2. 



THE BAPTISMAL CONTROVERSY. 577 

Hyginus of Rome, even the baptism of the leading ministers 
of the Gnostics was acknowledged by the chief pastor of 
the Western metropolis. 1 The Church of Rome had ever 
since continued to act on the same system ; and her determi- 
nation to adhere to it had been fortified, rather than weakened, 
by recent occurrences. As the Novatians had set out on the 
principle of rebaptizing all who joined them, 2 Stephen recoiled 
from the idea of deviating from the ancient practice to follow 
in their footsteps. But Cyprian, who was naturally of a very 
imperious temper, and who had formed most extravagant 
notions of the dignity of the Catholic Church, could not 
brook the thought that the ministers connected with the 
schism of Felicissimus dispensed any baptism at all. He 
imagined that the honor of the party to which he belonged 
was irretrievably compromised by such an admission, and he 
was sustained in these views by a strong party of African and 
Asiatic bishops. On this occasion Stephen repeated the ex- 
periment made sixty years before by his predecessor, Victor, 
and attempted to reduce his antagonists to acquiescence by 
excluding them from his fellowship. But this second effort 
to enforce ecclesiastical conformity was equally unsuccessful. 
It only provoked an outburst of indignation, as the parties in 
favor of rebaptizing refused to give way. This controversy 
led, however, to the broad assertion of a principle which 
might not otherwise have been brought out so distinctly, for 
it was frequently urged during the course of the discussion 
that all pastors stand upon a basis of equality, and that the 
bishop of a little African village had intrinsically as good a 
right to think and to act for himself as the bishop of the great 
capital of the Empire. 

It is very clear that at this time the unity of the Church did 
not consist in the uniformity of its discipline and ceremonies. 
The believers at Jerusalem continued to practice circumcision 
nearly a century after the establishment of Gentile Churches in 
which the rite was unknown. On the question of rebaptizing 

1 Cyprian, Epist. lxxiii., p. 279, and lxxiv., p. 295. 

2 Cyprian, Epist. lxxiii., pp. 277, 278. 

37 



578 DIVERSITY OF DISCIPLINE AND CEREMONIES. 

heretics the Churches of Africa and Asia Minor were diametri- 
cally opposed to the Church of Rome and other communities 
in the West. As to the mode of observing the Paschal feast a 
still greater diversity existed. According to the testimony of 
Irenaeus there was nothing approaching to uniformity in the 
practice of the various societies with which he was acquainted. 
" The dispute," said he, " is not only respecting the day, but 
also respecting the manner of fasting. For some think that 
they ought to fast only one day, some two, some more days ; 
some Compute their day as consisting of forty hours night and 
day ; ' and this diversity existing among those that observe it, 
is not a matter that has just sprung up in our times, but long 
ago among those before us." a When Cyprian refused to ad- 
mit the lapsed to the Lord's Supper on the strength of the 
tickets of peace furnished by the confessors and the martyrs, 
he departed from the course previously adopted in Carthage ; 
and when Novatian excluded them altogether from commun- 
ion, he acted on a principle not then novel. There was at that 
time quite as much diversity in discipline and ceremonies 
among Christians as is now to be found in evangelical Protes- 
tant Churches. 

* As we descend from the apostolic age, the spirit of the 
dominant body betrays a growing want of Christian charity. 
There soon appeared a disposition to monopolize religion, and 
to disown such as did not adopt a certain ecclesiastical Shib- 
boleth. When the great mass of Christians were organized in- 
to the Catholic Church, the chief pastors branded with the odi- 
ous name of heretics all who did not belong to their associa- 
tion. The Nazarenes originally held the great doctrines of the 
Gospel ; but they soon found themselves in the list of the pro- 
scribed, and gradually degenerated into abettors of very cor- 
rupt principles. Those members of the Church of Carthage 
who joined Felicissimus acted on principles which the pred- 
ecessors even of Cyprian had sanctioned, and yet the African 
prelate denounced them as beyond the pale of divine 

1 In Stieren's " Irenaeus," i. 824, there is a different reading of this pas- 
sage, according to which some continued the fast forty days. 

2 Euseb. v. 24, 



ILLIBERALITY OF THE CATHOLICS. 579 

mercy. Novatian was not less orthodox than Cornelius ; but 
because he contended for a system of discipline which, though 
not unprecedented, was deemed by his rival too austere, and 
because he organized a party to support him, he also was 
stigmatized with the designation of heretic. The Quarto- 
decimans, as well as those who contended for Catholic rebap- 
tism, must have been classed in the same list, had they not 
formed numerous and powerful confederations. Thus it was 
that those called Catholics were taught to cherish a contracted 
spirit, and to look on all, except their own party, as out of the 
reach of salvation. Their false conceptions of what properly 
constituted the Church involved them in many errors and 
tended to vitiate their entire theology. 'But this subject, too 
important to be discussed in a few cursory remarks, is reserved 
for consideration in a separate chapter. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE THEORY OF THE CHURCH, AND THE HISTORY OF ITS 
PERVERSION. — CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 

"I AM the good Shepherd," said Jesus: "the good Shep- 
herd giveth his life for the sheep My sheep hear my voice, 

and I know them, and they follow me : and I give unto them 
eternal life, and they shall never perish." ' The sheep here 
spoken of are the true children of God. They constitute that 
blessed community of which it is written, " Christ loved the 
Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and 
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he 
might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot 
or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and 
without blemish? '" 

The society thus described is, in the highest sense, "the 
holy Catholic Church." Its members are to be found wherever 
genuine piety exists, and they are all united to Christ by the 
bond of the Holy Spirit. Their Divine Overseer has promised 
to be with them " alway unto the end of the world," 3 to keep 
them " through faith unto salvation," 4 and to sustain them 
even against the violence of " the gates of hell." 5 Though 
they are scattered throughout different countries, and sepa- 
rated by various barriers of ecclesiastical division, they have 
the elements of concord. Could they be brought together, 
and divested of their prejudices, and made fully acquainted 
with each other's sentiments, they would speedily incorporate; 
for they possess " the unity of the Spirit," 6 " the unity of the 

1 John x. ii, 27, 28. 2 Eph. v. 25-27. 3 Matt, xxviii. 20. 

4 1 Pet. i. 5. 5 Matt. xvi. 18. 6 Eph. iv. 3. 

(580) 



THE CHURCH VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 58 1 

faith," 2 and " the unity of the knowledge of the Son of God." ' 
But these heirs of promise can not be distinguished by the eye 
of sense ; their true character can be known infallibly only to 
the Great Searcher of hearts ; and for this, among other rea- 
sons, the spiritual commonwealth to which they belong is 
usually designated " the Church invisible." s 

The visible Church is composed, to a considerable extent, of 
very different materials. It embraces the whole mixed mul- 
titude of nominal Christians, including not a few who exhibit 
no evidence whatever of vital godliness. Our Lord describes 
it in one of His parables when He says, " The kingdom of 
heaven is like unto a net which was cast into the sea, and 
gathered of every kind ; which when it was full, they drew to 
shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but 
cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world : 
the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among 
the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there 
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." 4 

In the first century the profession of Christianity was peril- 
ous as well as unpopular, so that the number of spurious dis- 
ciples was comparatively small ; and so long as the brethren 
enjoyed the ministrations of inspired teachers, all attempts to 
alienate them from each other, or to create schisms, had little 
success. But still, even when the apostles were on earth, 
some of the Churches planted and watered by themselves 
were involved in error, and agitated by the spirit of division. 
" It hath been declared unto me of you," says Paul to the 
Corinthians, " that there are contentions among you. Now 
this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of 

1 Eph. iv. 13. 2 Eph. iv. 13. 

3 No writer since the Reformation has discussed the subject of the Church 
with more learning and ability than the Rev. Dr. Hodge, of Princeton. 
Those who wish to be thoroughly acquainted with all the bearings of the 
question should consult his "Essays and Reviews," New York, 1857. Also 
the Princeton Review. See also an article of his taken from the 
Princeton Review in the British and Foreign Evangelical Review for 
Sept., 1854. 

4 Matt. xiii. 47-50. 



582 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

"* Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ." ' The ime writer 
had occasion to mourn over the apostasy of the Churches of 
Galatia. " I marvel," said he, " that ye are so soon removed 
from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another 

Gospel O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you 

that ye should not obey the truth?" 9 The Church *)f Sardis 
in the lifetime of the Apostle John had sunk into an equally 
deplorable condition, and hence he was commissioned to de- 
clare to it, " I know thy works, that thou hast a name that 
thou livest, and art dead!' 3 

The circumstances which led to J:he organization of the 
Catholic system have already been detailed, and it has been 
shown that the great design of the arrangement was to secure 
the visible unity of the ecclesiastical commonwealth. The 
Catholic confederation was supposed to comprehend all the 
faithful ; and it was expected that, not long after its establish- 
ment, it would ring the death-knell of schism and sectarian- 
ism. According to its fundamental principle, whoever was not 
in communion with the bishop was out of the Church. To be 
out of the Church was considered tantamount to be without 
God and without hope, so that this test condemned all who 
in any way dissented from the dominant creed as beyond the 
pale of salvation. Its assumptions, involving a decision of 
such grave importance and such dubious authority, were ac- 
knowledged with some difficulty; and the question as to the 
extent and character of the Church led to considerable dis- 
cussion ; 4 but the horror of heresy, which so generally pre- 
vailed, strengthened the pretensions of the hierarchy ; and at 
length every candidate for baptism was required to declare, as 
one of the articles of his faith, " I believe in the holy Catholic 
Church." 5 

According to one interpretation the sentiment embodied in 
this profession was perfectly unobjectionable. If by the holy 
Catholic Church we understand the Church invisible composed 

1 i Cor. i. ii, 12. 2 Gal. i. 6, iii. I. 3 Rev. Hi. i. 

4 Thus, Melito of Sardis wrote a work " On the Church." Euseb. iv. 26. 

5 Apostles' Creed. For another form see Bunsen's " Hippolytus," iii. 
25, 27. 



NO SALVATION OUT OF THE CHURCH. 583 

of all the true children of God, every devout student of the 
Scriptures is bound to express his belief in its existence and 
its excellence. This Church is precious in the eyes of the 
Lord ; it is the habitation of His Spirit ; and the heir of His 
great and glorious promises. But the holy Catholic Church, 
in the current ecclesiastical phraseology of the third century, 
had a very different signification. It denoted the great mass 
of disciples associated under the care of the Catholic bishops y 
as distinguished from all the minor sects throughout the Em- 
pire which made a profession of Christianity. A sincere and 
intelligent believer might well have scrupled to give such a 
title to the mixed society thus claiming its application. 

It is quite true that there is no salvation out of the Church, 
if by the Church is meant that elect company which Christ 
died to redeem and sanctify ; but the Word of God does not 
warrant us to assert that the eternal well-being of man de- 
pends on his connection with any earthly society. Even in 
the days of the apostles, some who were subjected to a sen- 
tence of excommunication were the excellent of the earth. 
" I wrote unto the Church" says John, "but Diotrephes, who 
loveth to have the pre-eminence among them, receiveth us not. 
Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he 
doeth, prating against us with malicious words, and not con- 
tent therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, 
and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the 
Church." 1 This Diotrephes seems to have been some way- 
ward and domineering presbyter who took the lead among his 
fellow-elders, and who induced them by the influence of com- 
manding talent, combined with superior worldly station, to 
support him in his wilfulness. 2 But it is very foolish to sup- 
pose that the brethren who were thus cast out of the Church 
were thereby eternally undone, for such certainly was not the 
judgment of the beloved disciple. Faith in Christ, and not 

1 3 John 9, 10. 

2 He appears, for certain reasons now unknown, to have been dissatisfied 
with some disciples who had been engaged in missionary work ; and he had 
influence sufficient to procure the excommunication of the brethren who 
entertained them. 



584 THE TRUE CHURCH NOT THE CHURCH VISIBLE. 

a relation to any visible society, secures a title to heaven. 
Thousands, admitted into Paradise, like the thief on the cross, 
have never been baptized ; ' and we might point out number- 
less cases of individuals in the wonderful providence of God 
led to a saving knowledge of the truth, who have never had 
an opportunity of joining a congregation of Christian worship- 
pers. But those who assumed the name of Catholics were 
continually dwelling on the importance of a connection with 
their own association ; and, assuming that they were the 
CliurcJi, they appropriated to themselves whatever they found 
in Scripture in commendation of its excellence. The prom- 
ises addressed to the Church in the book of inspiration refer, 
however, not to any local and visible community, but to the 
"Church of the first-born which are written in heaven "; 2 and 
the Catholics, by misapplying them, were led to form very ex- 
travagant notions of the advantages of their position. The 
ascription of the attributes of the Church invisible to their 
own association was the fundamental misconception on which 
a vast fabric of error was erected. By reason of the indwell- 
ing of the Spirit in all believers the Church invisible is catholic, 
or universal, that is, it is to be found wherever vital Chris- 
tianity exists ; for the same reason it is holy, every member of 
it being a living temple of Jehovah; it is also one, as one 
Spirit animates all the saints and unites them to God and to 
each other; and it is perpetual, or indestructible, for the Most 
High has promised never to leave Himself without witnesses 
among men, and all His redeemed ones shall be trophies of 
His grace throughout all eternity. But these attributes were 
represented as belonging to the Church visible, and this radi- 
cal mistake became the parent of monstrous delusions. The 
ecclesiastical writers who flourished toward the end of the 
second and beginning of the third century exhibit a consider- 
able amount of inconsistency and vacillation when they touch 
upon the subject ; 3 but, half a century afterward, the language 

1 He would be a bold man who would assert that all the pious members of 
the Society of Friends are in a hopeless condition. 

2 Heb. xii. 23. 

3 See Rothe's " Anfange der christlichen Kirche," p. 575. 



ERRORS OF THE CATHOLIC THEORY. 585 

currently employed is much bolder and more decided. At 
that time Cyprian does not hesitate to express himself in the 
strongest terms of high-church exclusiveness. "A//," says he, 
" are adversaries of the Lord and antichrist who are found to 
have departed from the charity and unity of the Catholic 
Church." 1 "You ought to know that the bishop is in the 
Church and the Church in the bishop, and if any be not with 
the bishop, that he is not in the Church!' 2 " The house of God 
is one, and there can not be salvation for any except in the 
Church." 3 " He can no longer have God for a Father, who 
has not the Church for a mother." 4 

Though the Catholics were a compact body, forming the 
bulk of the Christian population, their system failed to absorb 
all the professors of the Gospel, or even greatly to check the 
tendency toward ecclesiastical separation. In their contro- 
versies with seceders and schismatics, their own principles 
were more distinctly defined ; and, as they soon found that 
they were quite an overmatch for any individual sect, their 
tone gradually became more decided and dictatorial. But the 
theological position from which they started was a sophism ; 
and, like the movements of a traveller who has mistaken his 
way, every step of their progress was an advance in a wrong 
direction. Some of the more prominent errors to which their 
theory led may here be enumerated. 

I. The theory of the Catholic Church recognized an odious 
ecclesiastical monopoly. Pastors and teachers are " for the 
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the 
edifying of the body of Christ "; 6 and yet a sinner may be 
saved without their instrumentality. The truth when spoken 
by a layman, or when read in a private chamber, may prove 
quite as efficacious as when proclaimed from the pulpit of a 
cathedral. That kingdom of God which " cometh not with 
observation " is built up by " the Word of His grace "; 6 and 

1 Cyprian, Epist. lxxvi., p. 316. 2 Epist. lxix., p. 265. 

3 Epist. lxii., p. 221. 

4 " De Unit. Ecc." p. 397. See also Lactantius, " De Vera Sapientia," 
lib. iv., p. 282. 

5 Eph. iv. 12. 6 Acts xx. 32. 



586 ERRORS OF THE CATHOLIC THEORY. 

so long as the Word exists, and so long as the Spirit applies 
it to enlighten and sanctify and comfort God's children, the 
Church is imperishable. The evangelical labors of the pious 
master of a merchant vessel have often been blessed abun- 
dantly ; and among the tens of thousands afloat on the broad 
waters, who seldom enjoy any ecclesiastical ministrations, may 
be found some of the highest types of Christian excellence. 
Though regularly ordained pastors are necessary to the growth 
and well-being of the Church, such facts show that they are 
not essential to its existence. But, according to the Catholic 
system, they are the veins and arteries through which its very 
life-blood circulates. All grace belongs to the visible society 
called the Catholic Church, and of this grace the Catholic 
ministers have the exclusive distribution. Without their in- 
tervention, as the dispensers of divine ordinances, no one can 
hope to inherit heaven. No other ministers whatever can be 
instrumental in conferring any saving benefit. Was it extra- 
ordinary that individuals supposed to be intrusted with such 
tremendous influence soon began to be regarded with awful 
reverence ? If the services they rendered were necessary to sal- 
vation, and if these services could be performed by none else, 
they were possessed of absolute authority, and it was to be 
expected that they should act as " lords over God's heritage." 
Under the Mosaic economy none save the descendants of a 
singe individual were permitted to present the sacrifices or to 
enter the holy place. In the celebration of the most solemn rites 
of their religion the Jewish people were kept at a mysterious 
distance from the presence of the Divine Majesty, and were 
taught to regard the officiating ministers as mediators between 
God and themselves. This arrangement was symbolical, as 
all the priests were types of the Great Intercessor. But every 
believer may enjoy the nearest access to his Maker, for the 
Saviour has made all His people " kings and priests unto 
God." 1 The ministers of the Gospel do not constitute a 
privileged fraternity entitled by birth to exercise certain func- 
tions and to claim certain immunities. They should be ap- 

1 Rev. i. 6. 



ERRORS OF THE CATHOLIC THEORY. 587 

pointed by the people as well as for them, and no service 
which they perform implies that they have nearer access to 
the Divine Presence than the rest of the worshippers. In the 
New Testament they are never designated priests? neither is 
their intervention between God and the sinner described as in- 
dispensable. But Catholicism invested them with a factitious 
consequence, representing them as inheriting peculiar rights 
and privileges by ecclesiastical descent from the apostles. Ac- 
cording to Cyprian, " Christ says to the apostles, and thereby 
to all prelates who by vicarious ordination are successors of the 
apostles, ' He that heareth you, heareth me.' " 2 About the 
commencement of the third century the pastors of the Church 
began to be called priests, 3 and this change in the ecclesiasti- 
cal nomenclature betokens the influence of Catholic principles 
on the current theology. The Jewish sacrificial system had 
ceased, and the Hebrew Christians were disposed to transfer 
to their new ministers the titles of the sons of Levi ; but, had 
not the alteration been in accordance with the spirit of the 
times it could not have been accomplished. It was, however, 
justified by Catholicism, as that system set forth the clergy in 
the light of mediators between God and the people. This 
misconception of the nature of the Christian ministry gener- 
ated a multitude of errors. If ministers are priests they offer 
sacrifice, and are intrusted with the work of atonement. It is 
true, indeed, that the monstrous dogma of transubstantiation 
was not yet broached, but forms of expression exceedingly 
liable to misinterpretation, began to be adopted. Thus, the 

1 If our authorized version of the English Bible is to be regarded as a 
standard of correct usage, the word priest can not be properly employed to 
designate a Christian minister. In the New Testament, as stated in the 
text, a minister of the Word is never called a priest (lepevg), and the latter 
term when used in reference to an official personage in our English Bible, 
always denotes an individual who offers sacrifice. To call a Gospel minis- 
ter a priest is, therefore, to adopt an incorrect expression and to insinuate a 
false doctrine. 

2 Epist. lxix., p. 264. 

3 Thus, Tertullian speaks of the " ordo sacerdotalis." " De Exhor. Cast." 
c. vii. 



588 ERRORS OF THE CATHOLIC THEORY. 

Eucharist was styled " a sacrifice," ' and the communion-table 
" the altar." 2 At first such phraseology was not intended to 
be literally understood, 3 but its tendency, notwithstanding, 
was most pernicious, as it fostered false views of a holy ordi- 
nance, and laid the foundation of the most senseless supersti- 
tion ever imposed on human credulity. 

Every genuine pastor has a divine call to the sacred office, 
and no act of man can supply the place of this spiritual voca- 
tion. God alone can provide a true minister, 4 for He alone 
can bestow the gifts and the graces required. Ordination is 
simply the form in which the existing Church rulers endorse 
the credentials of the candidate, and sanction his appearance 
in the character of an ecclesiastical functionary. But these 
rulers may themselves be incompetent or profane, and if so, 
their approval is worthless ; or, by mistake, they may permit 
wolves in sheep's clothing to take charge of the flock of 
Christ. The simple fact, therefore, that an individual holds a 
certain position in any section of the visible Church, is not 
decisive evidence that he is a true shepherd. But according 
to the doctrine of Catholicism, whoever was accredited by 
the existing ecclesiastical authorities was the chosen of the 
Lord. When certain parties who had joined Novatian were 
induced to retrace their steps, they made the following peni- 
tential declaration in presence of a large congregation as- 
sembled in the Western metropolis: "We acknowledge Cor- 
nelius bishop of the most holy Catholic Church chosen by God 
Almighty and Christ our Lord." 5 Cyprian asserted that, as 
he was bishop of Carthage, he must necessarily have a divine 
commission. Nothing, indeed, can exceed the arrogance 
with which this imperious prelate expressed himself when 

1 Cyprian, Epist. lxiii., p. 230 ; lxiv., p. 239. 

2 Cyprian, Epist. lxix., p. 264. Cotelerius, i. 442. The Eucharist is called 
a sacrifice by Justin Martyr (see his Dialogue with Trypho, " Opera," p. 
260) apparently in a figurative sense, but when dispensed by a minister 
called a priest, such language became exceedingly liable to misconception. 

3 In proof of this see Cyprian, Epist. lvi., p. 200, and lxiii., p. 231. In the 
former place Cyprian says, " Mindful of the Eucharist, the hand which has 
received the Lord's body may embrace the Lord himself." 

4 Heb. v. 4 ; Acts xx. 28, xxvi. 16. G Cyprian, Epist. xlvi., p. 136. 



ERRORS OF THE CATHOLIC THEORY. 589 

speaking of his ecclesiastical authority. To challenge his 
conduct was, in his estimation, tantamount to blasphemy ; 
and, to dispute his prerogatives, a contempt of the Divine 
Majesty. Once, in a time of persecution, he retired from 
Carthage, and he was, in consequence, upbraided by some as 
a coward ; but when a fellow-bishop, Papianus, ventured to 
ask an explanation of a course of proceeding which betokened 
indecision, Cyprian treated the inquiry as an insult, and 
poured out upon his correspondent a whole torrent of invec- 
tives and reproaches. He is God's bishop, and no one is to 
attempt, by the breath of suspicion, to stain the lustre of his 
episcopal dignity. " I perceive by your letter," says he, 
" that you believe the same things of me, and persist in what 

you believed This is not to believe in God, this is to 

be a rebel against Christ and against His Gospel Do 

you suppose that the priests of God are without His cogni- 
zance ordained in the Church ? For if you believe that those 
who are ordained are unworthy and incestuous, what else is 
it but to believe that, not by God, or through God, are His 
bishops appointed in the Church." J After indulging at great 
length in the language of denunciation, he adds, in a strain 
of irony, " Vouchsafe at length and deign to pronounce on 
us, and to confirm our episcopate by the authority of your 
hearing, that God and Christ may give you thanks, that 
through you a president and ruler has been restored as well 
to their altar as to their people." 2 

II. The Catholic system encouraged its adherents to culti- 
vate very bigoted and ungenerous sentiments. They were 

' Epist. lxix., p. 262. See also Epist. lv., p. 177. " If any amount of dif- 
ference of opinion as to the truth or untruth of the teaching of a geographi- 
cal priesthood will justify separation under another Christian ministry, 
then it at once ceases to be true that there can be but one bishop, or one 
priest, over any given area in which such differences exist ; there then may 
obviously be as many bishops, or as many priests, as there may be different 
bodies of men differing from each other's teaching in what they deem suffi- 
ciently essential points to justify separation." — Letter from the Duke of 
Argyll to the Bishop of Oxford, p. 8. 

2 Epist. lxix., p. 264. 



590 ERRORS OF THE CATHOLIC THEORY. 

taught to regard themselves as the " peculiar people," and to 
look on all others, however excellent, as without claim to the 
title or privileges of Christians. How different the spirit of 
the inspired heralds of the Gospel ! When Peter saw that the 
Holy Ghost was poured out on men uncircumcised, he recog- 
nized the divine intimation by acknowledging the believing 
Gentiles as his brethren in Christ. Conceiving that God him- 
self had thus settled the question of their Church member- 
ship, " he commanded them to be baptized in the name of 
the Lord." ' But men who professed to derive their authority 
from the apostle, now showed how grievously they misunder- 
stood the benign and comprehensive genius of his ecclesiasti- 
cal polity. The dominant party among the disciples had not 
long assumed the name of Catholics when they sadly belied 
the designation ; for nothing could be more illiberal or un- 
catholic than their Church principles. All evidences of piety, 
no matter how decided, if found among the Nazarenes, or the 
Novatians, or the friends of Felicissimus, were rejected by 
them as apocryphal. The brightest manifestations of godli- 
ness, if exhibited outside their own denomination, only roused 
their jealousy or provoked their uncandid and malicious criti- 
cisms. The Catholic bishops acted as if they moved within 
something like a charmed circle, and as if a curse rested upon 
everything not under their own influence. Their proceedings 
often displayed alike their folly and inconsistency. Tertul- 
lian, for example, was a Montanist, and yet he was the writer 
from whom Cyprian himself derived a large share of his theo- 
logical instruction. " Give me the master,' the bishop of 
Carthage is reported to have said when he called for his 
favorite author. 2 Thus, an individual who, according to 
Cyprian's own principles, was beyond the pale of hope, was 
the teacher with whom he was daily holding spiritual fellow- 
ship ! The bigotry of the party appears all the more inex- 
cusable when we consider that some of those who differed 
from them taught the cardinal doctrines of the Gospel, as 
zealously and as fully as themselves. The Novatians seceded 

1 Acts x. 48. a Jerome, " Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers." 



CATHOLICISM OPPOSED TO GOD'S WORD. $91 

from their communion merely on the ground of a question of 
discipline, and yet the Catholics could not believe that any 
grace existed among these ancient Puritans. The Novatians 
might exhibit much of the beauty of holiness, and shed their 
blood in the cause of Christianity, 1 but all this availed them 
nothing in the estimation of their narrow-minded antagonists. 
" Let no one think," says Cyprian, " that they can be good 
men who leave the Church." 2 " He can never attain to the 
kingdom who leaves her with whom the kingdom shall be." 3 
" He can not be a martyr who is not in the Church." 4 Every 
man not blinded by prejudice might well have suspected the 
soundness of a theory sustained by such brazen recklessness 
of assertion. 

III. v Nothing, however, more clearly revealed the anti- 
evangelical character of the Catholic system than its inter- 
ference with the claims of the Word of God. The Gospel 
commends itself by the light of its own evidence. The 
official rank of the preacher can not add to its truth, neither 
can the corrupt motives which may prompt him to proclaim 
it, impair its authority. As a revelation from heaven, it pos- 
sesses a title to consideration irrespective of any individual, 
or any Church ; and God honors His own communication 
even when delivered by a very unworthy messenger. 5 " Some 
indeed," says Paul, " preach Christ even of envy and strife, 
and some also of good-will What then ? Notwith- 
standing, every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ 
is preached ; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." 6 
But Catholicism taught its partisans to cherish very different 
feelings, for they were instructed to believe that the Gospel 
itself was without efficacy when promulgated by a minister 
who did not belong to their own party. They could not 
challenge a single flaw in the creed of Novatian, 7 and yet 
they stoutly maintained that his preaching was useless, and 

1 Some of those called heretics had many martyrs. Euseb. v. 16. 

2 " De Unit. Ecc." Opera, p. 399. 3 "De Unit. Ecc." p. 401. 
4 " De Unit. Ecc." p. 401. 5 Jeremiah xxiii. 21, 22. 

6 Phil. i. 15, 18. See also Mark ix. 38, 39. 

7 Cyprian himself makes this admission. Epist. lxxvi., p. 319. 



592 CATHOLICISM OPPOSED TO GOD'S WORD. 

that the baptism he dispensed was worthless as the ablution 
of a heathen. " You should know," says Cyprian, " that we 
ought not even to be curiolcs as to what Novatian teaches, since 
he teaches out of the Church. Whosoever he be, and whatso- 
ever he be, he is not a Christian who is not in the Church of 
Christ." ' " When the Novatians say, ' Dost thou believe re- 
mission of sins and eternal life by the Holy Church?' they 
lie in their interrogatory, since they have no Church." a 

Strange infatuation ! Who could have anticipated that one 
hundred and fifty years after the death of the Apostle John, 
such miserable and revolting bigotry would be current ? The 
Scriptures teach us that, in the salvation of sinners, ministers 
are nothing, and the Gospel everything. " Whosoever," says 
Paul, " shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 
.... Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of 
God." 3 Cyprian did not understand such doctrine. He imag- 
ined that the Word of God had no power except when issuing 
from the lips of the ministers of his own communion. The 
Catholic Church must put its seal upon the Gospel to give it 
currency. Without this stamp it was all in vain to announce 
it to a world lying in wickedness. The Catholic pastor might 
be a man without ability ; he might be comparatively ignorant 
and of more than suspicious integrity ; and yet the King of 
the Church was supposed to look down with complacency on 
all the official acts of this wretched hireling, while no dew of 
heavenly influence rested on the labors of a pious and accom- 
plished Novatian minister ! When men like Cyprian were 
prepared to acknowledge such folly, it was not strange that a 
darkness which might be felt soon settled down upon Chris- 
tendom. ^ 



In the preceding pages the history of the ancient Church 
for the first three centuries has passed under review, and 
few general observations may be not inappropriately appende« 
to this concluding chapter. The details here furnished suppl 

1 Epist. lii., p. 156. 2 Epist. lxxvi., p. 319. 3 Rom. x. 13, 17. 



CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 593 

ample evidence that Christianity was greatly corrupted long 
before the conversion of Constantine. Much of the supersti- 
tion which has since so much disfigured the Church was, in- 
deed, yet unknown. During the first three centuries we find 
no recognition of the mediatorship of Mary, or of the dogma 
of her immaculate conception, 1 or of the worship of images, 
or of the celebration of divine service in an unknown tongue, 
or of the infallibility of the Roman bishop. But the germs of 
many dangerous errprs were distinctly visible, and when the 
sun of Imperial favor began to shine upon the Christians, 
these errors rapidly reached maturity. The Eucharistic bread 
and wine were viewed with superstitious awe, and language 
was applied to them calculated to bewilder and confound. A 
system of penitential discipline alien to the spirit of the New 
Testament was already in existence ; rites and ceremonies un- 
known in the apostolic age made their appearance ; and in the 
great towns a crowd of functionaries, whom Paul and Peter 
would have refused to own, added to the pomp of public wor- 
ship. Some imagine that in the times of Tertullian and of 
Cyprian we may find the purest faith in the purest form, but 
a more intimate acquaintance with the history of the period is 
quite sufficient to dispel the delusion. A little consideration 
may convince us that, in the second or third century, we can 
scarcely expect to see either the most brilliant displays of the 
light of truth or the most attractive exhibitions of personal 
holiness. The waters of life gushed forth, clear as crystal, 
from the Rock of Ages ; but, as their course was through the 
waste wilderness of a degenerate world, they were soon defiled 
by its pollutions ; and it was not till the desert began " to 
rejoice and blossom as the rose," that the stream flowed 
smoothly in the channel it had wrought, and partially recov- 
ered its native purity. At the present day we do not expect 
as high a style of Christianity in a convert from idolatry as in 
an individual trained from infancy under the care of enlight- 

1 Tertullian did not hold the doctrine of her perpetual virginity. See 
" De Monog.," c. 8, and " De Came Christi," c. 23. Neither did he believe 
in her immaculate conception. See Kaye's "Tertullian," p. 338, and Jer- 
ome's " Tract against Helvidius." Du Pin, i. 346. 

38 



594 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 

ened and godly parents. By judicious culture the graces of 
the Spirit, as well as the fruits of the earth, may be improved ; 
but when a section of the open field of immorality and igno- 
rance is first added to the garden of the Lord, it may not 
forthwith possess all the fertility and loveliness of the more 
ancient plantation. 1 A large portion of the early disciples had 
once been heathens ; they had to struggle against evil habits 
and inveterate prejudices ; they were surrounded by corrupt- 
ing influences ; and, as they had not the same means of ob- 
taining an exact and comprehensive knowledge of the Gospel 
as ourselves, we can not reasonably hope to find among them 
any very extraordinary measure either of spiritual wisdom or 
of consistent piety. 

When the Church toward the middle of the second century 
was sorely harassed by divisions, its situation was extremely 
critical and embarrassing. Christianity had appeared among 
men bearing the olive branch of peace, and had proposed to 
supersede the countless superstitions of the heathen by a faith 
binding the human race together in one great and harmonious 
family. How mortified, then, must have been its friends 
when Basilides, Marcion, Valentine, Cerdo, Mark, and many 
others began to propagate their heresies ; and when it was to 
be feared that the divisions of the Church v/ould prove as 
numerous as the religions of paganism ! Had the ministers 
of the Gospel girded themselves for the emergency ; had they 
boldly encountered the errorists, and vanquished them with 
weapons drawn from the armory of the Word ; they would 
have approved themselves worthy of their position, and ac- 
quired strength for future conflicts. But whilst they did not 
altogether neglect an appeal to Scripture, they were tempted 
in an evil hour to think of sequestrating their own freedom, 
in the hope of overwhelming heresy with the vigor of an ec- 
clesiastical despotism. By investing their chairman with arbi- 
trary power and by making communion with this functionary 
the criterion of discipleship, they sanctioned a perilous ar- 

1 One of the most distinguished and sagacious of modern missionaries 
has called attention to this fact. See Livingstone's " Missionary Travels in 
South Africa," p. 107. 



CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 595 

rangement and indorsed a vicious principle. From this date 
we trace the commencement of a career of defection. The 
bishop and the Church began to supplant Christ and a knowl- 
edge of the Gospel. Bigotry advanced apace, and conscience 
found itself in bondage. 

v The establishment of the hierarchical system, though im 
parting, as was thought, greater unity to the structure of the 
Church, did not really invigorate its constitution. The spirit- 
ual commonwealth is very different from any merely earthly 
organization, for it has no statute-book but the Bible, and it 
owes explicit obedience to no ruler but the King of Zion. 
Freedom of conscience, in obedience to the Word, is the heri- 
tage of all its members ; and every one of them is bound to 
exercise the privilege, and to resist its violation. Its unity 
consists, not in adhesion to any visible head, but in cordial 
submission to its one great Lord and Sovereign. When a 
change was made in its primitive framework, its essential unity 
was impaired. After the elders had handed over a considera- 
ble share of their authority to their president, they were not 
expected to take such a deep interest in its government as 
when they were themselves individually responsible for its 
official administration. They still, indeed, acted as his coun- 
sellors, but as they no longer held the independent footing 
they had once occupied, they could neither speak nor act so 
freely and so energetically as before. Thus, when one mem- 
ber of the ecclesiastical body was permitted to attain an un- 
natural magnitude, others ceased to perform their proper 
functions, and the whole eventually became diseased and 
misshapen. And the new arrangement entirely failed in 
checking the growth of the errorists. After its adoption her- 
esies sprung up as rapidly as ever, and the multitude of its 
sects continued to be the scandal of Christianity even in the 
time of Constantine. 1 Their suppression is to be attributed, 
not to the potency of Prelacy, but to the stern intolerance of 

1 Maximian, in his famous edict of toleration, lays great stress on this 
circumstance. " De Mortibus Persecutorum," c. 34. See also Euseb. 
viii. 17. 



596 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 

the Imperial laws. By the rigid enforcement of conformity 
the Catholic Church at length reigned without a rival. 

The extant ecclesiastical writings of the third century de- 
monstrate that the doctrine of the visible unity of the Church, 
as represented by the Catholic hierarchy, already formed a 
prominent part of the current creed. As there is "one God, 
one Christ, and one Holy Ghost," it was affirmed that there 
could be but "one bishop in the Catholic Church." 1 This 
theory was inconsistent with the fact that there were many 
bishops in almost every province of the Empire ; but the in- 
genuity of churchmen attempted a solution of the difficulty. 
It was asserted that the whole episcopacy should be regarded 
as one, and that each bishop constituted an integral part of 
the grand unit. " The episcopacy is one," says Cyprian, " it 
is a whole in which each enjoys full possession." 3 " There is 
one Church from Christ throughout the whole world divided 
into many members, and one episcopate diffused throughout an 
harmonious multitude of many bishops." 3 

We have seen that the Roman prelate was already recog- 
nized as the centre of ecclesiastical unity. A misunderstood 
passage in the Gospel of Matthew * was supposed to sanction 
this ecclesiastical primacy. " There is," said the bishop of 
Carthage, "one God, and one Christ, and one Church, and one 
chair founded by the Word of the Lord on tJie Rock." ' Though 
the Roman chief pastor was theoretically only the first among 
the Catholic bishops, his zeal for uniformity had now more 
than once interrupted the peace of the Christian community. 
The erection of a new capital and the subsequent dismember- 
ment of the Empire considerably affected his position ; but, 
within a certain sphere, he steadily endeavored to carry out 
the idea of Catholic unity. The doctrine reached its highest 
point of development after the lapse of upwards of a thousand 
years. Then the bishop of Rome had become a sovereign 
prince, and was the acknowledged ruler of a vast and magnifi- 

1 Cornelius to Cyprian, Epist. xlvi., p. 136. 

* " De Unit. Eccles.," p. 397. 3 Epist. lii., p. 156. 

4 Matt. xvi. 18. 5 Cyprian, Epist. xl., pp. 120, 121. 



.CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 597 

cent hierarchy. Then, he swayed his spiritual sceptre over 
all the tribes of Western Christendom. Then, verily, uni- 
formity had its day of triumph ; for, with some rare excep- 
tions, wherever the stranger travelled throughout Europe, he 
found the same order of divine service, and saw the ministers 
of the sanctuary arrayed in the same costume, and practicing 
even the same gestures. Then, wherever he entered a sacred 
edifice, he heard the same language, and listened to the same 
prayers expressed in the very same phraseology. But what 
was meanwhile the real condition of the Church ? Was there 
love without dissimulation, and the keeping of the unity of 
the Spirit in the bond of peace ? Nothing of the kind. Never 
could it be said with greater truth of the people of the West 
that they were " foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers 
lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and 
hating one another." There were wars and rumors of wars ; 
nation rose up against nation and kingdom against kingdom ; 
and the Pope was generally the cause of the contention. The 
very man who claimed to be the centre of Catholic unity was 
the grand fomenter of ecclesiastical and political disturbance. 
The Sovereign Pontiff, and the Catholic princes with whom 
he was engaged in deadly feuds, were equally faithless, rest- 
less, and implacable. Freedom of thought was proscribed, 
and the human mind was placed under the most exacting and 
intolerable tyranny by which it was ever oppressed. 

The mutilation of this Dagon of hierarchical unity is one 
of the many glorious results of the great Reformation. The 
sooner the remaining fragments of this idol are crushed to 
atoms, the better for the peace and freedom of Christendom. 
The unity of the Church can not be achieved by the iron rod 
of despotism, neither can the communion of saints be promo- 
ted by the sacrifice of their rights and privileges. " Where 
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 1 Christ alone can 
draw all men unto Him. The real unity of His Church is, 
not any merely ecclesiastical cohesion, but a unity of faith, of 
hope, and of affection. It is the fellowship of Christian free- 

1 2 Cor. iii. 17. 



598 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 

men walking together in the fear of the Lord, and in the com- 
fort of the Holy Ghost. It is the attraction of all hearts to 
one heavenly Saviour, and the submission of all wills to one 
holy law. Looking at the past condition or the present as- 
pect of society, we may think the difficulties in the way of 
such unity altogether insurmountable ; but it shall, in due 
time, be brought about by Him " who doeth great things and 
unsearchable, marvellous things without number." Its reali- 
zation will present the most delightful and impressive specta- 
cle that the earth has ever seen. " Every valley shall be ex- 
alted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low ; and 
the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places 
plain ; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh 
shall see it together" ' " Thy watchmen shall lift up the 
voice, with the voice together shall they sing ; for they shall 
see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion." 2 " And 
the Lord shall be King over all the earth ; in that day shall 
there be one Lord, a?id His ?iai?ie one." 3 AMEN. 

1 Isa. xl. 4, 5. a Isa. Hi. 8. 8 Zech. xiv. 9. 



THE END. 



INDEX. 



Abgarus, 254, 363. 

Abraham, 351. 

Abulides, 534. 

Academics, 5, 178. 

Achaia, 100, 116, 343. 

Acropolis of Athens, 108. 

Acolyths, 539. 

Acts of the Apostles, 136, 159, 408. 

Acts of Ignatius, 380, 382 ; of St 
Thomas, 374; of St. Andrew, 
374 ; of Paul and Thecla, 388. 

Adamnan, 137. 

Adonai, 351. 

Adultery, 575. 

Advantages of Synods, 566. 

JEgean Sea, 151, 374, 559. 

^Elia Capitolina, 334, 568. 

yEons, 394, 395, 468. 

Affusion, 197. 

Africa, 254, 271, 284, 436; the 
senior bishop there, 562. 

Agapas, 441. 

Aged bishops, 463, 

Agrippa, 123, 124. 

Agrippinus, 560. 

Alexander of Princeton, in, 120, 
230. 

Alexander of Jerusalem, 274; of 
Rome, 464, 489. 

Alexander Severus, 255, 272, 422. 

Alexandria, 102, 130, 153 ; plague in, 
297 ; elections in, 303 ; church of, 
474, 485 ; presbyters of, 485, 530, 
532 ; bishops of, 530, 549. 

Altord, 32, 67, 93, 98, 207, 224. 

Altar, 446, 472. 

Ambrosius, 345. 

Amen, 424. 

America, 287, 319. 

Ammonius Saccas, 343. 

Amphictyonic Council, 561. 

Anachronisms, 382. 



Anacletus, 464. 

Anahuac, 287. 

Ananias, 54. 

Ancient Church Presbyterian, 459. 

Ancyra, Council of, 544. 

Andrew, 33, 34, 41. 

Angels of the Churches, 237, 241. 

Anicetus, 304, 488, 499, 508. 

Anointing, 438. 

Antioch of Pisidia, 67, 138. 

Antioch of Syria, 56, 68, 104, 343, 

368 ; synods of, 406, 563, 564 ; 

church of, 474 ; bishops of, 356, 

549- 
Antonia, Tower of, 119, 125. 
Antoninus Pius, 265, 343 ; heresies 

in reign of, 483, 494. 
Antony, 286. 
Apelles, 455. 
Apocalypse, 151, 161, 163, 237, 398, 

408. 
Apocrypha, 8. 
Apollos, 102, 103, 215. 
Apollonius of Tyana, 93, 108. 
Apologies, 250, 333, 339. 
Apostasy, 575. 
Apostles, 36, 39, 50, 74 ; to remain 

twelve years at Jerusalem, 59 ; 

gradually enlightened, 169; their 

position, 212 ; mode of acting, 214, 

220; others sometimes so called, 

455- 
Apostolic Churches, 514. 
Apostolic constitutions, 188, 427, 

513; canons, 534, 548,562. 
Apostolic succession, 42, 43, 536. 
Apostolic fathers, 332, 335. ' 
Appeals in Jewish courts, 226, 229. 
Appeal to the Emperor, 87, 123. 
Appearance, Personal, of Jesus, 17. 
Appii Forum, 131. 
Apt to teach, 209, 210. 

(599) 



6oo 



INDEX. 



Aquila, 97, 104, 116; version of, 

345. 
Arabia, 55, 153, 254, 342, 343. 
Archdeacon, 499, 528, 531. 
Archelaus, 13, 29. 
Archippus, 133. 
Areopagus, 95. 
Aretas, 55. 
Argyll, 515, 5 8 9- 
Annghi, 288, 322. 
Aristarchus, III, 118. 
Aristides, 264, 367. 
Aristo, 455. 
Arius, 42, 345. 
Aries, 254. 
Arnobius, 349. 
Arrius Antoninus, 269. 
Artemon, 413. 
Ascension of Jesus, 26. 
Ascetics, 285. 
Asceticism, 403. 
Asia, 104, 148, 232, 269. 
Asiarchs, [II. 
Asia Minor, in, 118, 245, 309, 327, 

342. 
Assassins, 120. 

Athanasius, 286, 297, 415, 565. 
Athenagoras, 334, 367, 398, 414. 
Athenians, 90, 93. 
Athens, 90, 264. 
Athos, Mount, 313. 
Atonement, 23, 174, 417; Gnostics 

rejected it, 403. 
Attica, 90, 95. 
Attributes of Christ, 172. 
Augustine, 38, 185 ; on Matt. xvi. 18, 

330 ; praise of celibacy, 404. 
Augustus, 1, 30, 318. 
Aurelian, 275, 280, 327. 
Aurelius, 541. 
Auricular Confession, 452. 
Autolycus, 253, 291. 

Babel, 522 ; the Roman, 523. 

Babylas, 274. 

Bacchus, 397. 

Badias, 526. 

Baluzius, 347. 

Baptism of infants, 194, 431, 432; 
errors regarding, 419; mode of, 
436; by the bishop, 513; of Jesus, 

15- 

Baptismal controversy, 577. 
Baptist, John the, 15, 35. 
Baptisterium, 197. 



Barbarous nations, 3. 

Barcochebas, 568. 

Barnabas, 55, 58, 62; the apostolic 
father, 334, 367. 

Baronius, 151, 368, 498, 503. 

Barrow, 330. 

Bartholomew, 32. 

Basil, 327. 

Basilides, 340, 394. 

Baths of the ancients, 197. 

Baumgarten, 37, 67, 159. 

Baur, 354. 

Baxter, 331. 

Bengel, 157, 224. 

Bentley, 377. 

Berea, 89. 

Bernice, 123, 124. 

Bethlehem, 12, 28, 29. 

Beveridge (Bishop), 498, 546. 

Bible, 420. 

Bibliotheca Sacra, 238. 

Bingham, 303, 327, 423, 426, 433, 
436. 

Binius, 312, 470, 498, 503. 

Birth of Christ, 28. 

Bishop, the word in the Ignatian 
epistles, 383, 384; its new mean- 
ing, 500-501. 

Bishop of bishops, 518. 

Bishops, or elders, 208 ; succession 
of, 301 ; great number of, succeed 
each other in a short period, 464, 
465 ; called overseers, 479 ; chosen 
by the people, 485 ; presidents, 
502; had wives, 524; preached, 
525 ; dispensed the Eucharist, 526 ; 
trading, 528 ; at Alexandria, 529 ; 
made by presbyters, 531 ; called 
presbyters, 532 ; ordained by bish- 
ops and presbyters, 534; income 
°t 535> 53** ; manage church 
funds, 538 ; in council of Carthage, 
545 ; disputes of, 549 ; sit with 
elders, 565 ; all equal, 577. 

Bithynia, 148, 253, 262. 

Blandina, 268. 

Blondel, 303, 324, 496. 

Blood, Abstinence from, 'j'j. 

Blunt, 375, 388, 410. 

Boanerges, 33, 152. 

Body ot Christ, 181. 

Bona, Cardinal, 378, 498. 

Books, Sacred, of the Jews, 7. 

Boston, 449. 

Bower, 314, 328, 489, 515. 



INDEX. 



601 



Bread in Eucharist, 442. 

Brethren and disciples, 74. 

Breviary, 313, 316, 457, 503. 

Britain, 153. 

British Museum, 377. 

Brown's " Horas Subsecivae," 91. 

Bruno, Thomas, 461. 

Bucolus, 455. 

Buddhists, 286, 404. 

Bunsen, 287, 301, 310, 314, 317, 360, 

369> 377, So 1 - 
Burrus, 131. 
Burton, 67, 73, 214, 506, 544. 

Cabalists, 345, 396. 

Csesarea, 51, 121, 214,343; church 

of, 473, 475 ; bishop of, 558. 
Caesar's household, 142, 150. 
Caius, 140, 335. 
Callistus, 315-317 ; cemetery of, 320, 

323> 35o. 

Calvin, 331, 389. 

Cambridge, 377. 

Camerius, 464. 

Candlesticks, Golden, 238. 

Canon of Scripture, 163-164, 408. 

Canterbury, Archbishop of, 359, 466. 

Capernaum, 17. 

Cappadocia, 148, 348. 

Caracalla, 272. 

Carpi, 526. 

Carpocrates, 183, 395. 

Carpophorus, 315. 

Carpus, 137. 

Carriages, 117. 

Carson, 196. 

Carthage, 254, 305, 321,336; church 
of, 346, 473 ; synods at, 560. 

Catacombs, 313, 318-321, 441. 

Catechumens, 271, 438. 

Catholic, use of the word, 306, 384, 
472 ; its first occurrence, 519. 

Catholic Church, 311, 580, 582. 

Catholic system, its theory, 521 ; its 
rise, 301, 511-514; its illiberal- 
ly* 5!5> 579; its errors, 585-591. 

Catholic epistles, 161. 

Cave, 32, 136, 153, 336, 355. 

Celerinus, 541. 

Celibacy, 285, 382, 404. 

Celsus, 344, 482. 

Celtic language, 335. 

Cemeteries, 275. 

Cenchrea, 102, 116, 526. 

Cerdo, 301, 491. 



Ceremonies, 568, 578. 

Cerinthus, 183, 480. 

Chapters and verses, 163. 

Chastity, 382. 

Chevallier, 425. 

Chief priests, 226. 

Childhood of Jesus, 13. 

Cborepiscopi, 544. 

Chrestiani, 145. 

Christ worshipped, 411. 

Christians, why so called, 57 ; their 

piety not transcendental, 283. 
Christmas, 570. 
Chronicon of Eusebius, 151, 272, 465, 

473- 
Chronology of Eusebius, 489. 
Chrysostom, 207, 330. 
Church, its meaning, 224, 234 ; angel 

of the, 239 ; of Rome, 299, 306 ; 

built on Peter, 326. 
Church courts met privately, 230. 
Church of Jerusalem, 40, 72 ; its ex- 
tent, 224. 
Cilicia, 51. 

Circumcision, 70, 78. 
City bishops, 546, 549, 567. 
City presbyters, 545. 
Clarkson, 240, 425. 
Claudia, 153. 

Claudius, the Emperor, 145. 
Claudius Lysias, 120. 
Clemens Alexandrinus, 3^9, 351, 416, 

4t8. 
Clemens Romanus, 136, 140, 321, 

456, 481 ; death of, 488. 
Clementine Homilies, 231, 374. 
Clergy, when so called, 527. 
Clermont, 254. 
Clinic baptism, 437. 
Cloak or case, 137. 
Codex, Alexandrinus, Augiensis, 

Bezae, Ephraemi, Sinaiticus, Va- 

ticanus, 75, 224, 457. 
Collection for poor saints, 118. 
Collier, 205, 228. 
Colosse, 107, 138, 244. 
Colossians, 134. 
Columba, 137. 
Commodian, 347. 
Commodus, 268, 308, 316. 
Communion of saints, 234. 
Community of goods, 46, 47, 58. 
Concubine, 269. 
Confederation of churches, 225, 231 

232. 



602 



INDEX. 



Confession, 447. 

Confessors, 574 ; some drunken, 574. 

Confirmation, 194. 

Consociation of churches, 233. 

Constantine, 279, 295, 475. 

Constantius Chlorus, 278. 

Constitution of the Church, 454 ; its 

importance, 550. 
Constitutions, The Apostolic, 427. 
Conversions interdicted, 270. 
Conybeare and Howson, 53, 60, 107, 

in, 119, 132, 133. 
Cooper, 302, 324, 346, 571. 
Corinth, 95, 116; church of, 154, 305; 

456. 
Corinthians, 109, 114, 477. 
Corn ships, 127, 130. 
Cornelius the centurion, 51, 60, 214; 

of Rome, 324, 532 ; his mildness 

to the lapsed, 576. 
Corruption of man, 171. 
Costume, clerical, 428. 
Cotelerius, 303, 332, 369, 371, 382, 

431- 
Council of Jerusalem, 72-79, 228. 
Councils, 469. 
Counsels, 403. 
Country bishops, 544-546 ; elders, 

545- 

Courtezans, 4. 

Creation out of nothing, 180. 

Creed, 176, 406, 582. 

Crescens, 266. 

Crete, ic6, 161, 215. 

Crispus, 97, 201. 

Cross, 286, 287, 288, 438. 

Crucifixion, 23, 49, 158. 

Cudworth, 9, 93, 94, 402. 

Culdees, 510. 

Cureton, 359, 360, 361, 373, 374, 386, 
388. 

Cursive MS., the most ancient, 75. 

Cybele, 397. 

Cyclades, 371. 

Cyprian, his life and character, 346- 
348; on tradition, 410; on bap- 
tism, 437; on the Rock, 326, 521, 
596; opposes Stephen, 521; his 
presbyters, 526, 542 ; chosen by 
the people, 541 ; rejects the tickets 
of peace, 574 ; his bigotry, 584 ; 
his arrogance, 588 ; his admira- 
tion of Tertullian, 590. 

Cyprus, 47, 66, 153. 



DEMONS, 81. 

Daille, 354, 361, 380, 385. 

Damaris, 95. 

Damascus, 53, 55. 

Damasus, 320, 476, 502. 

Daniel's prophecy, 149. 

Dativus, 526. 

Davidson, 137, 139, 161. 

Day in prophecy, 49. 

Deaconesses, 220. 

Deacons, 48, 207, 458, 493. 

Decius, 273, 274, 275, 322, 346. 

Delarue, 344, 542. 

Delivering to Satan, 200, 201. 

Demetrianus, 288. 

Demetrius, the craftsman, no; Bi- 
shop of Alexandria, 342, 474, 525, 
529. 

Demiurge, 394, 395, 397. 

Demosthenes, 90. 

Deputation to Jerusalem, 71. 

Diana, 107, ill, 112. 

Dictator, 490. 

Didascalia, 188, 407. 

Dion Cassius, 151. 

Diocletian, 256, 275-278, 426. 

Diognetus, 165, 334, 417. 

Dionysius, 95 ; of Alexandria, 274, 
485, 528, 564 ; of Rome, 327. 

Diotrephes, 583. 

Discipline, 199, 568; not uniform, 
578. 

Dispersion of the Jews, 8. 

Dissenters, The first, 569. 

Docetas, 18 [. 

Doctores, 546. 

Doctrine of Jesus, 18 ; of apostolic 
church, 168 ; of early church, 405. 

Doctrine of Peter, 363. 

Domitian, 149, 153, 162, 246, 280, 
481. 

Double honor, 209. 

Dove, 318. 

Dress of ministers, 194. 

Druids, 204. 

Drusilla, 122. 

Dunbar, 371. 

Dupin, 8, 290. 

Duumviri, 83, 87. 

Earthquake, 84, 86. 
East, Turning to the, 425. 
Easter, 570, 573. 
Ebion, 183, 411, 480. 



INDEX. 



603 



Ebionites, 411-412. 

Ecclesiastes, Paraphrase on, 349. 

Ecclesiastici, 519. 

Ecclesiastics secularized, 527. 

Edessa, 254. 

Egypt, Flight into, 13, 29; its pro- 
ducts, 130 ; spread of gospel in, 
254 ; Gnostics of, 394 ; ordination 
in, 531. 

Elagabalus, 272. 

Elders, 58, 72, 198, 208, 209, 227, 
234, 457, 470 ; ordained deacons, 
552; made the bishops, 531; 
ruling, disappeared, 535. 

Election, Popular, 48, 67, 219, 473, 
540. 

Eleutherius, 308, 488 ; confounded 
with Hyginus, 498 ; a presbyter, 

499- 

Ellicott, 105, 114, 208. 

Elrington, 389. 

Elvira, or Eliberis, 290, 565. 

Empire, Roman, its boundaries, 1 ; 
fall of western, 151; population of, 
1 ; resources of, 2 ; union of many 
nations in, 3 ; corruption of, 4. 

English liturgy, 291. 

Epaphroditus, 133, 242. 

Ephesian letters, 108, 109. 

Ephesians, 134, 359, 362; Epistle of 
Ignatius to, 373. 

Ephesus, 10 1, 1 04-1 13, 117, 214. 

Epicureans, 5, 91, 93, 94. 

Epiphanius, 54, 99, 183, 413, 497. 

Episcopacy, Primitive, 524, 526. 

Episcopal succession, 300, 460, 532 ; 
ordination, 533. 

Epistles of commendation, 235, 295. 

Epistles of Paul, 160, 161 ; of Peter, 
161. 

Era, Christian, 28. 

Erastus, 97, 137. 

Essenes, 7, 21, 178, 184, 284. 

Etheridge, 384, 463. 

Ethiopia, 534. 

Eucharist, 307, 431, ,444; improperly 
designated, 446 ; Polycarp dis- 
penses it at Rome, 507 ; adminis- 
tered by the bishops, 513, 536; 
sent to other churches, 514; with- 
held by Cyprian, 574 ; called a 
sacrifice, 588. 

Eunuch, Ethiopian, 50, 51, 433. 

Europe, 80. 

Eusebius, 22, 229, 252, 300, 359, 362, 



432, 460 ; his account of the bishops 
of Caesarea, 475 ; as an historian, 
478 ; his chronology, 489. 

Eutychius, 463, 474, 530, 535. 

Evaristus, 464, 489. 

Evodius, 356. 

Excommunication, 199, 203-204. 

Executors, bishops not to be, 528. 

Exorcism, 438. 

Exorcists, 253, 540. 

Extraordinary teachers, 206. 

Ezekiel, 288. . 

Faber, 49. 

Fabian, 274, 318, 322, 543. 

Fabricius, 534. 

Facts of the gospel, 299. 

Faith, 71, 171. 

Famine, 59. 

Father, the bishop's name, 463. 

Fathers, 331 ; apostolic, 332, 335 ; 

absurdities of, 352. 
Fasting, 448-450, 558, 560. 
Felicissimus, 544, 575, 577. 
Felicitas, 271, 272. 
Felix, 122, 123. 
Fell, Bishop, 347. 
Fellow-presbyters, bishops so called, 

543- 
Festivals, Jewish, 72, 228, 421. 
Festus, 122, 123. 
Fidus, 436. 

Fig-tree, cursing of the, 20. 
Fire brigades, 553. 
Firmilian, 467, 562, 564. 
First among the bishops, 548, 551. 
Flavia Domitilla, 151. 
Flavius Clemens, 150. 
Formalism, 70. 
Fornication, J7, 78, 201. 
Fourteen years, 73. 
France, 254, 306, 335. 
Frauds, Pious, 409. 
Friday of the Paschal week, 571. 
Friends, Society of, 584. 
Fulgentius, 217. 
Fuller, 153. 
Fulness of time, 9. 
Funeral of the bishop, 555. 

Gaelic, 335. 
Gaius, 97, 118, 380. 
Galatia, 104, 148. 
Galatians, 105 ; epistle to, 161. 
Galerius, 276, 278, 280. 



6c4 



INDEX. 



Galileans, disciples called, 57. 

Gallienus, 255, 327, 422. 

Gallio, 100. 

Gallus, 274, 297. 

Gamaliel, 52, 98, 227. 

Games, 264. 

Geneva N. T., 163. 

Gentile converts, 69. 

Gentiles, 121. 

Germany, 298. 

Gibbon, 275, 294. 

Gieseler, 271, 306, 443. 

Gihon, 351. 

Girba, 526. 

Gladiators, 291. 

Gnosis, 182, 392, 395. 

Gnosticism, 180, 181, 392, 396, 554. 

Gnostics, 109, 181, 336, 391, 492. 

Gods of the heathen, 6. 

Gordian, 272. 

Gospels, the, 16, 162, 408. 

Goths, 254, 327. 

Governments, what, 207, 208. 

Grace, 417. 

Greece, 80 ; synods did not com- 
mence in, 560. 

Grecians, 47, 55, 56. 

Greek extensively spoken, 4 ; by 
Paul, 120; Greek Church, 438; 
Greek nations, 559; Greek coun- 
cils in fixed places, 562. 

Gregory the Great, 403. 

Gregory Nazianzen, 238, 551. 

Gregory Nyssen, 349. 

Gregory Thaumaturgus, 349, 353. 

Gregory of Tours, 254, 430. 

Greswell, 1, 30, 264, 357. 

Griesbach, 56, 138. 

Growth of the Church, 249. 

Guerike, 427. 

Hackett, iii, 112, 128. 

Hadrian, 264, 269, 334, 483, 501. 

Hagenbach, 402. 

Hales, 49. 

Hallam, 294, 487. 

Hammond, 354. 

Hands, laying on of, 64, 438, 530 ; 

of bishops and elders, 542, 543. 
Hardy, 404. 
Hartung, 425. 

Heathen mythology, 5, 6, 173, 174. 
Heathen priests, 83, 253. 
Heathen worship, 146. 
Hebrew, fathers ignorant of, 351. 



Hebrews, 47 ; epistle to, 138, 160, 

162, 479. 
Hetele, 354, 357. 

Hegesippus, 300, 310, 335, 482, 499. 
Helps, 207, 208. 
Henry, Matthew, 353. 
Heraclas, 485, 528. 
Heresies, 178, 185, 336, 481-483. 
Heretics, 179, 324, 495. 
Hermas, 310, 334. 
Hermias, 416, 
Hermogenes, 183. 
Hero, 359. 

Herod the Great, 2, 12, 28, 29, 145. 
Herod Agrippa, 59. 
Herodian, 280, 305. 
Hexapla, 344, 345. 
Hierapolis, 107, 244, 335. 
Hierarchy, 475. 
High priest, 36, 99, 216. 
Hilary, 461, 467, 484, 493, 536. 
Hincmar, 513. 
Hippolytus, 309, 313, 316, 340, 372, 

534. 

Hodge, 581. 

Holy Ghost, 76 ; worshipped, 414. 

Homer, 218, 371. 

Homoousios, 406. 

Home, 160, 164, 174, 277. 

House of the church, 382. 

Houses of worship, 422. 

Hugo de Sancto Caro, 163. 

Humanitarian, 412. 

Huntingdon, Robert, 354. 

Hyacinthus, 243, 527. 

Hyginus, 300, 301, 303 ; prelacy be- 
gins in time of, 489-492, 494, 
499 ; arranged the clergy, 503 ; 
acknowledged heretical baptisms, 

577- 

Hymenaeus, 183. 

lALDABAOTH, 396. 
Iconium, 67, 68, 69. 
Idolatry, 289, 290, 348. 
Ignatian epistles, 372-390. 
Ignatius, 262, 356-358, 367-369, 371, 

463. 
Illiberality of the Catholics, 579. 
Illyricum, 116, 153. 
Images, 289, 290. 

Immaculate conception of Mary, 593. 
Immersion, 197. 
Immorality of ministers, 284. 
Incidents of Christ's death, 24. 



INDEX. 



605 



India, 130; gospel in, 254. 

Infant baptism, 194-195, 431, 432, 

435- 

Infant communion, 443. 

Infants slain at Bethlehem, 13. 

Inspiration, 169, 407. 

Instrumental music, 193, 429. 

Intermarriage with heathens, 293. 

Invisible Church, 581. 

Irenseus, 253, 364, 468 ; his life and 
character, 335, 336 ; on baptism, 
431 ; on the Eucharist, 445 ; on 
the Church of Rome, 306, 516 ; on 
the meeting at Miletus, 554. 

Irvingites, 245. 

Isaiah, 189. 

Israel, mistaken meaning of, 351. 

Italy, 80, 153, 357, 531. 

JACOBSON, 357, 370, 383, 430, 455. 

Jailer, 85, 433. 

James I., King, 478. 

James, the brother of John, 33-34, 60. 

James, the Lord's brother, 33, 34, 35, 
146, 161 ; not Bishop of Jerusalem, 
230, 460. 

Janitors, 539. 

Jennings, Rev. Isaac, 238. 

Jeremy Taylor, 13. 

Jerome, 337, 338, 459 ; his character, 
476 ; his account of the hierarchy, 
477-480 ; not inconsistent, 485- 
486 ; of the rise of prelacy, 491 ; of 
the bishops of Alexandria, 529, 530. 

Jerusalem, 22, 45, 60, 138; its fall, 
148, 157; its influence, 231; re- 
built, 334 ; ancient church of, 465- 
467, 472, 473 ; bishop of, 558. 

Jesus Christ, 11, 144, 156, 168; mis- 
take as to His name, 351, and age, 
352; worshipped, 411. 

Jewish conjuror, 68. 

Jews, their condition, 6 ; aversion to 
gospel, 52, 68, 83, 97 ; sects, 6. 

John the Baptist, 15, 30, 48, 49, 103. 

John the Evangelist, 22, 35—36, 149, 
1 51-152 ; his epistles, 161, 480 ; in 
Patmos, 242; epistle of Ignatius 
to, 359- 

John Mark, 67. 

Jones on the canon, 373, 388. 

Joseph of Arimathea, 150. 

Josephus, 29, 178, 239. 

Judas the traitor, 18, 32, 52. 

Jude, 34, 150, 161. 



Judea, 22. 

Judgment of God, 532. 

Julia Mammaea, 343, 364, 

Julian, 269. 

Julius Valens, 322. 

Junius, 383. 

Justin Martyr, 266, 418, 424, 448 ; his 

life and character, 266, 332, 333. 
Justinian, 399, 513. 
Justus of Vienne, 428, 498, 531 ; of 

Jerusalem, 463. 467. 

Kashisha, 284. 

Kay, Rev. W., 56. 

Kaye, Bishop, 252, 253, 401, 406. 

Kennett, 422. 

Kiss, 438, 439. 

Kitto, 288. 

Kneeling, 442. 

Koran, 156. 

Kuinoel, 224. 

Kurtz, 314. 

Lacedemonians, 425. 
Lachmann, 56, 75, 138, 174, 224, 234, 
Lactantius, 279, 349, 585. 
Lampridius, 255, 422. 
Languages of Roman empire, 3, 129. 
Laodicea, 107, 151, 240; council of, 

423. 

Lapsed, The, 574. 

Lardner, 252, 474, 501. 

Large towns, 539. 

Larroque, 354, 443. 

Lateran, 313, 549. 

Latin' extensively spoken, 3. 

Latin Church, 204. 

Laurentius, 436. 

Laying on of hands, 64, 438, 576. 

Lectors, or readers, 539. 

Lee, Dr., of Dublin, 318; of Cam- 
bridge, 360. 

Legate, 239, 243. 

Lent, 563. 

Leonides, 270, 341, 342. 

Libellatici, 270. 

Liberty of conscience, 48, 281. 

Libya, 153. 

Licinius, 279. 

Lictors, 87. 

Life of Christ, 11. 

Lightfoot, 192, 194, 198, 209, 226. 

Limoges, 254. 

Linus, 301. 
. Lions, the Christians to the, 264. 



6o6 



INDEX. 



Litton, 67, 212, 226, 550. 

Liturgies, 191, 192, 425, 438. 

Livingstone, 594. 

Logos, 413. 

London, 370. 

Lord's day, 187, 295, 425. 

Lordship, 218. 

Lord's prayer, 348, 426. 

Lord's Supper, 194, 197, 198, 334, 

440-446. 
Lot of the episcopacy, 303, 317, 485, 

532. 
Lucius, 323. 

Luke, 22, 140, 142, 157, 158. 
Luther, 52. 
Lycaonia, 67. 
Lydia, 81, 434. 

Lyons, 254, 267, 268, 280, 308. 
Lystra, 68. 

Macedonia, 114, 116. 

Machaerus, Fortress of, 1 5. 

Macrianus, 274. 

Magians, 401. 

Magnesia, 358. 

Magnesians, 359, 374. 

Maitland, 319-322, 328. 

Malchion, 413, 527. 

Malta, 127, 129. 

Malte Brun, 22. 

Man of sin, 101, 151. 

Mani, 399-401. 

Manichseans, 400, 403, 417. 

Manner of Christ's teaching, 18-19. 

Mannulus, 526. 

Marcellus, 328. 

Marcia, 268, 308, 315. 

Marcion, 337, 340, 395, 491, 492; 
his activity, 496 ; seeks admission 
to Roman presbytery, 497. 

Marcus Aurelius, 252, 265, 280, 335, 

397- 
Marcus, Bishop of Jerusalem, 465, 

569. 
Maria Cassobolita, 359. 
Mariner's compass, 127. 
Mark, 22, 153, 157, 486. 
Married clergy, 321, 337, 382. 
Mars' hill, 92. 
Martyrdom, 364, 385. 
Martyrs, 574. 
Mary, the mother of Jesus, 11, 33, 

263, 320, 385 ; epistle of Ignatius 

to, 359> 374- 
Matter, 181. 



Matthew, 22, 32, 34, 157, 158. 

Maurice, 240. 

Mauritania, 469. 

Maxim ilia, 397. 

Maximin, 272, 278, 280, 313. 

M'Crie, Dr., 330. 

Meats offered to idols, 77. 

Medhurst's China, 286. 

Media, 153. 

Meier, 359. 

Melito, 335, 582. 

Memphitic version, 251. 

Mesopotamia, 153, 558. 

Messiah expected, 9, 168. 

Merivale, 1, 30, 129, 130, 294. 

Metropolis, 562. 

Metropolitan, 469, 546-548, 551 ; 

called father, 463. 
Middleton, 253. 
Miletum, 137, 138. 
Miletus, 117, 137, 232, 478. 
Milk and honey, 438. 
Mill, 75. 

Millenarians, 183. 
Millennium, 163, 398. 
Milman, 13, 129, 147, 337. 
Milner, 389, 481. 
• Minerva, 90. 
Ministers of the Word not priests, 

587. 
Ministry of Jesus — its length, 22, 49 ; 

its fruits. 31. 
Minucius Felix, 6, 292 ; on the cross, 

287 ; on images, 289 ; his style, 

34i. 

Miracles of Jesus, 16, 17,20; discon- 
tinuance of, 252. 

Misquotations by the fathers, 351. 

Missa, 498. 

Mode of baptism, 196. 

Moderator, 459, 460, 469, 487, 562. 

Moesia, 254. 

Mohammed, 156. 

Monachism, 286, 363, 403. 

Monarchians, 415. 

Monogram, 287. 

Montanism, 372, 556; of a Roman 
bishop, 398. 

Montanists, 293, 408, 435, 472. 

Montanus, 397, 399. 

Morality of the Christians, 250, 292. 

Moreland, Sir Samuel, 462. 

Mortal sins, 401, 451. 

Mosheim, 179, 269; on synods, 553, 
557, 567. 



INDEX. 



607 



Multitude in Acts xv. 12, what it 

means, 74. 
Miinter, 305, 469, 473. 
Muratorian fragment, 310 
Myra, 127. 
Mysterious manifestations of Jesus, 

15. 

Mystics, 95, 345. 
Mythology, 5, 6, 174, 249. 

Napoleon, 329. 

Narbonne, 254. 

Narcissus, 463, 465, 557. 

Nathanael, 32, 35, 36. 

Nazarenes, disciples so called, 57, 

146, 178 ; heretics, 569. 
Nazareth, 11, 28. 
Neander, 377, 409, 544, 553. 
Neo Caesarea, 349. 
Nero, 126, 138, 147, 148, 153, 162, 

280. 
Nerva, 249. 

New Testament, its excellence, 165. 
New York, 370. 
Nice, 327, 406, 452, 535, 562. 
Nicodemus, 22. 
Nicolaitanes, 183, 184. 
Nicomedia, 276. 
Nicopolis, 106. 
Nile, 351. 

Nitrian desert, 354, 360. 
Noah's descendants, 38. 
Noetus, 415, 470. 
Nomenclature, A new, 472. 
Northcote, 313, 318, 320, 441. 
Novatian, 324, 482, 547, 576. 
Novatians, 324, 577, 592. 
Novatus, 544. 
Numidia, 296, 469. 
Numidicus, 542. 

OCTAVIUS, 341. 

October, 562. 

(Ehler, 336. 

Onesimus, 134, 294, 380, 381. 

Ophites, 396. 

Optatus, 329, 525, 541. 

Ordain, 215. 

Ordinary office-bearers, 206. 

Ordination, 63-65, 211, 219; Pres- 
byterian, 528 ; at Rome, 531, 532 ; 
Prelatic, an innovation, 533 ; by 
bishops and presbyters, 542. 

Organization of the Church, 223. 

Oriental theology, 394, 395. 



Origen, 40, 41, 157, 270, 285,331; 
his life and character, 341-346 ; 
on the Ignatian epistles, 363, 371, 
388 ; on infant baptism, 432 ; on 
the Eucharist, 445 ; his ordination, 
534; preached before it, 525. 

Original MSS. ofN. T., 164. 

Original sin, 410. 

Osroene, 558. 

Ostian Way, 140. 

Owen, 190. 

Pacian, 512. 

Pedagogue, 340. 

Palestine, 174, 342, 373, 377, 473. 

Palmas, 557. 

Palmer, 192, 513. 

Pamelius, 347. 

Pantaenus, 339. 

Pantheists, 93. 

Papacy, Rise of the, 329, 330. 

Paparius, 464. 

Papias, 41, 335, 336, 383. 

Parables of Jesus, 19. 

Paraclete, 398, 435. 

Paris, 254, 313. 

Parthenon, 107. 

Parthia, 153, 254. 

Paschal feast, 309 ; controversy, 335, 

47i, 507, 532, 557, 570-573- 

Paschal lamb, 570, 572, 573. 

Passover, 58, 197. 

Pastor, 498. 

Pastor of Hermas, 334, 364 ; con- 
demned, 560. 

Pastoral epistles, 114. 214, 216. 

Pastors, 207, 208. 

Patmos, 151, 242, 243. 

Patripassians, 415. 

Patristic errors, 350-352, 419. 

Paul the Apostle, 52-54, 60, 61, 63, 
64, 70-72, 84-101, 118, 299; at 
Rome, 131 ; second imprisonment, 
1 36 ; martyrdom, 1 39 ; epistles of, 
408. 

Paul of Samosata, 42, 285, 327, 
382, 423; his views, 413; rural 
bishops around him, 527 ; his 
pomp, 538 ; deposed, 565. 

Paul the hermit, 286. 

Paulinus, 476. 

Pausanias, 93. 

Pearson, 481, 501 ; on the Ignatian 
epistles, 354, 361, 366, 372, 389; 
on chronology, 464, 489, 490, 



6o8 



INDEX. 



Peleg, 38, 39. 
Penance, 419, 452. 

Penitents, 202. 

Penitentiary presbyter, 452. 

Pentateuch, 7, 193. 

Pentecost, 46, 102, 121, 169; on 
the first day of the week, 189; no 
sponsors at its baptisms, 433 ; 
synod at, 562 ; called Whitsun- 
day, 570. 

People did not vote at Council of 
Jerusalem, 73; nor in synods, 565, 
566. 

Pepin, 329. 

Perga, 67. 

Pergamos, 237. 

Perpetua, 271. 

Persecutions, 144, 258 ; said to be 
ten, 279; causes of, 280; Decian, 
451, 547; Valerian, 547; Diocle- 
tian, 276, 328. 

Persia, 153. 

Persons of the Godhead, 414-416. 

Pertinax, 269. 

Peshito, 207, 251, 383, 458. 

Peter, 33, 35, 45; at Rome, 139; 
first epistle of, 480 ; second epistle 
of, 141 ; his martyrdom, 142; not 
prince of the apostles, 299 ; the 
rock, 310, 325, 326 ; baptized other 
apostles, 519. 

Pharisees, 6, 21, 121, 178, 188. 

Philadelphia, 237, 240, 359. 

Philadelphians, 359. 

Philemon, 133, 134. 

Philetus, 183. 

Philip the apostle, 32, 36, 149; the 
evangelist, 117, 206. 

Philippi, 80-81, 368, 478. 

Philippians, 88, 135, 136; epistles of 
Ignatius to, 359, 370, 374, 382; of 
Polycarp to, 367 ; of Paul to, 480. 

Philo Judaeus, 239, 345, 351, 364. 

Philosophers, their influence, 5. 

Philosophy, its tendency, 4 ; its in- 
efficiency, 91. 

Philosophumena, 314, 315, 316, 317, 
320, 321, 341. 

Philostorgius, 254. 

Philostratus, 93, 108. 

Phcebe, 220, 221. 

Phcenice, 343. 

Phcenix, 165. 

Phrygia, 104, 365, 397 ; Pacatiana, 
161. 



Phygellus, 183. 

Picts, 298. 

Pilate, 23. 

Pius, 303, 334, 428, 489, 490 ; his let- 
ters, 498-500, 531. 

Pius IV., Pope, 313. 

Places of worship, 194. 

Platina, 329. 

Plato, 5, 90, 180; philosophy of, 394, 
402 ; his trinity, 416. 

Piatt, 188. 

Players, 291 ; playhouse, 291. 

Pleroma, 393, 394, 395. 

Pliny, 262, 356, 411, 442. 

Plurality of elders, 208. 

Polianus, 526. 

Politarchs, 89. 

Politicians perplexed by Christ, 21. 

Polity of church, its importance, 550. 

Polycarp, 266, 303 ; his epistle, 332, 
455,458 ; letter of Ignatius to, 356, 
359, 378, 382 ; baptized in infancy, 
430, 431 ; his reference to Ignatius, 
367-370 ; visits Rome, 506, 507. 

Polycrates, 520, 571. 

Polygamy, 292, 293. 

Pomptine marshes, 131. 

Pontia, 151. 

Pontifex Maximus, 494. 

Pontifical Book, 502, 503. 

Pontius the Deacon, 275, 285. 

Pontius Pilate, 23, 375. 

Pontus, 148, 349. 

Pope, 328, 458, 463, 466. 

Popular election, 48, 67, 219. 

Porson, 361. 

Porter, Sir R. Ker, 287. 

Portus, 309, 315. 

Postscripts, 161, 214, 369. 

Pothinus, 268, 280, 335, 463. 

Potter, 425, 561. 

Practical excellence of the gospel, 
250. 

Prasdestinatus, 556. 

Prastorian Prefect, 131. 

Prastorium, 133. 

Praxeas, 415, 416. 

Prayer, 191, 339, 426 ; standing at, 
424, 430. 

Preaching, 191, 210-21 1, 427 ; plau- 
dits at, 428; preaching elder, 211, 
221. 

Precepts, 403. 

Predestination, 175, 417, 418. 

Prelacy, 311 ; begins at Rome, 489, 



INDEX. 



609 



490, 493, 494; its rise, 505, 512; 
easily introduced, 508, 509; Je- 
rome's account of it, 555 ; grad- 
ually advances, 567. 

Prelates, 240, 535 ; pomp of, 538 ; 
said to be successors of the apos- 
tles, 587. 

Prelatic ordination an innovation, 

533- 

Presbyterian Church of Rome, 458. 

Presbyters, 234, 471, 481, 484; com- 
mon council of, 477, 566 ; of Alex- 
andria, 530; ordaining, 542,543; 
sat in councils, 565. 

Presbytery, 66, 202, 219, 226, 227, 
317, 427, 459, 487. 

Prescott, 287. 

Presentation in the temple, 28. 

President, 454, 455, 461, 484, 502. 

Presiding presbyter, 302, 484. 

Prideaux, 191, 239, 241, 425. 

Priest, The English word, 587. 

Priest of Jupiter, 68. 

Prince Albert, 360. 

Principal churches, 514, 515 ; bishops, 
516, 517, 548. 

Priscilla, 97, 103, 104, 116, 211. 

Proculus, 269. 

Progress of prelacy, 537, 538. 

Prompter, 424. 

Prophecy, 65. 

Prophets, 40, 54 75, 193, 207, 228. 

Proselyte of the gate, 51. 

Providence, A particular, 418. 

Psalms, 167, 192, 423. 

Psyria, 371. 

Ptolemais, 415. 

Ptolemies, The, 288. 

Purgatory, 403. 

Pusey, Dr., 564, 565. 

Puteoli, 127, 129, 131. 

Pythoness, 82. 

QUADRATUS, 264, 367. 

Quartodecimans, 571. 
Quirinius, 30. 

Rawlinson, Sir H., 360. 
Reader or Lector, 427, 539. 
Reading the Scriptures, 164, 191, 

193, 426; prayers, 424. 
Rebaptism, 324. 
Recognitions of Clement, 346. 
Redeemer, 168, 172. 
Reeves, 137. 

39 



Reformation, 290, 319. 
Regeneration, 431. 
Religion of heathens, 4. 
Repentance and penance, 451, 453. 
Representation of the Church, 559. 
Resurrection of Jesus, 25, 45, 49, 

187 ; festival of the, 571, 573. 
Rhone, 335. 
Rigaltius, 336. 
Robinson, 30, 37, 39. 
Rock, The, of Rome, 596 ; Peter the, 

310. 
Roman — See Empire. 
Roman bishop for the Montanists, 

3H. 

Romanism, 299. 

Roman poets and historians, 2 ; pres- 
bytery, 461. 

Romans, Epistle to, 116, 139; of 
Ignatius to, 359, 362, 365, 366-373. 

Rome, its wealth and greatness, 2, 
130; its intercourse with Car- 
thage, 336; its population, 129; 
Church of, 132, 142, 160, 162, 254, 
299, 306, 473 ; its influence, 304, 
494-496 ; its statistics, 323 ; Bi- 
shop of, 327, 374, 517, 549; Cle- 
ment of, 456 ; origin of Church of, 
490; catholic system begins at, 513, 
515, 518, 539; bishop of, at head 
of catholic league, 520; ignorance 
of Bishop of, 560 ; Paul embarks 
for it, 127. 

Root and womb of the Church, 519. 

Rothe, 67, 354, 481, 584. 

Routh, 335, 406, 471. 

Rufinus, 432. 

Rufus, 368, 369. 

Ruinart, 266. 

Sabbath, 188, 189, 190. 

Sabellius, 345,415. 

Sacrament, 197, 443. 

Sacrificati, 270. 

Sadducees, 6, 21, 121, 178. 

Sage, Bishop, 347, 542. 

Saint as a prefix, 160. 

Salamasius, 498. 

Salvation, none out of the Church, 

583. 
Samaritans, 36, 39, 50, 51, 182. 
Sand-diggers, 319, 321. 
Sanhedrim, 32, 45, 121, 184, 216, 

226. 
Sardis, 152, 237. 



6io 



INDEX. 



Satan, 346 ; delivering to, 200. 

Satisfactions, 419. 

Saturday, 187. 

Saturninus, 364, 394. 

Saturus, 541. 

Saul, or Paul, 66. 

Savigny, 462. 

Schaff, 106, 189, 294, 400, 571. 

Schism, of Novatian, 324, 327, 547 
of Felicissimus, 547, 575. 

Schismatics, called heretics, 482. 

Scholz, 138. 

Scotland, 255, 510. 

Scott, Thomas, 353. 

Scribes, 19, 227. 

Scriptures, 7, 164, 169 ; consistent, 
172 ; burned, 276, 277 ; commit- 
ted to memory, 407 ; seized, 426. 

Scrivener, 224. 

Scyra, 371. 

Scyros, 371. 

Sects, 595. 

Secundinus, 526. 

See of Peter, 381, 519, 522. 

Selden, 37, 220, 226, 530. 

Seleucia, 66. 

Seneca, 100. 

Seniority, 303, 469, 470. 

Senior, presbyter, 460-463, 470, 484, 
531 ; bishop, 469, 470, 562. 

Septimius Severus, 269, 280, 309. 

Septuagint, 8, 344, 457. 

Serapis, 286. 

Serenius Granianus, 264. 

Sergius Paulus, 66, 150. 

Servianus, 501. 

Seven churches, 152, 238, 244. 

Seventy, The, 30, 37, 45, 54, 57. 

Seventy nations, 37. 

Shepherd, Mr., 348, 413. 

Shepherd of Hermas, 334, 364, 382. 

Shepherds of Judea, 30. 

Shipwreck of Paul, 127-129. 

Sibylline books, 376. 

Silas, 84. 

Simeon, or Niger, 54. 

Simeon of Jerusalem, 185, 263, 464, 
465, 467, 482. 

Simon Magus, 182. 

Simon Zelotes, 41. 

Sitting at the Eucharist, 442. 

Six hundred and sixty-six, 151. 

Sixtus, 274, 464. 

Slavery, 294, 295. 

Slaves, 433. 



Smith's Dictionary of Geography, 
107, 129, 371 ; of Antiquities, 197, 
425, 485. 

Smith of Jordanhill, 127, 128, 129. 

Smyrna, 237, 356, 35S, 370, 464, 470. 

Smyrnseans, 359, 363, 374, 386. 

Socrates, the philosopher, 90, 91 ; 
the historian, 286, 573. 

Sopater, 118. 

Soter, 489 ; called a presbyter, 532. 

Sozomen, 254. 

Spain, 136, 138, 153, 254, 469; 
church of, 473. 

Sponsors, 433. 

Sprinkling, 437. 

Spurious writings, 373. 

Standing at the Eucharist, 442, 445. 

Stanley's Eastern Church, 474. 

Stars, Seven, 238. 

Stationary days, 450. 

Stephen, the first martyr, 49, 144; 
of Rome, 323, 325, 326, 350, 521 ; 
against rebaptism, 576 ; excom- 
municates other bishops, 577. 

Stephens, Robert, 163. 

Stieren's Irenaeus, 37, 303, 336, 351, 
382, 507, 578. 

Stillingfleet, 461, 513. 

Stoics, 5, 91, 93, 94. 

Strabo, 97, 240, 526. 

Strataeas, 455. 

Strom ata, 340, 350, 351. 

Subdeacons, 539. 

Subintroductae, 285. 

" Subsecivas, Horre," 91. 

Suburbicarian Provinces, 327. 

Succession, Episcopal, 301, 460, 476, 
532. 

Suetonius, 145. 

Suffrage, 317. 

Suicide, 85. 

Sulpitius Severus, 148. 

Sunday, 424. 

Supreme Pontiff, 322. 

Symmachus, 345. 

Synagogue, 8, 191, 198, 226, 227, 

239- 
Synods, their history, 552 ; of apos- 
tolic origin, 554, 555 ; at first few, 
556; held generally, 558; con- 
demned Montanists, 556 ; ruled 
the church, 563 ; of Alexandria, 

474. 
Syria, 71, 342, 368, 373; in the 
yEgean Sea, 371. 



INDEX. 



6n 



Syriac of Ignatian Epistles, 360-361, 

37o, 374- 
Syrian deputation, 72. 
Syricius, 312. 

Tacitus, 121, 142, 147, 148. 

Tarquin, 376, 377. 

Tarsians, 359. 

Tarsus, 51, 52. 

Tatian, 350. 

Tattam, Archdeacon, 354. 

Teacher, The bishop, 525. 

Teachers, 54, 65, 207, 208, 228. 

Teetotalers, 350. 

Telesphorus, 301,464, 489 ; martyred, 
495, 500; called a presbyter, 532; 
did not keep the paschal feast, 571. 

Temple service, 191, 192. 

Tennent, Sir J. '£., 404. 

Tertullian on Ezek. ix. 4, — 288 ; on 
the phoenix, 165 ; on the angel of 
the church, 241 ; on the perpetual 
virginity of Mary, 264; on Matt, 
xvi. 18, — 310, 326; his life and 
character, 336-339, 350 ; his fan- 
cies, 352 ; on venial and mortal 
sins, 401 ; on baptism, 432-434 ; 
his account of penitents, 448 ; on 
synods, 558. 

Textus Receptus, xiii., 138. 

Thebaic version, 251. 

Thebuthis, 482. 

Theodotian, 345. 

Thcodotus, 412. 

Theophilus, of Antioch, 253, 334, 
414; of Caesarea, 557, 558. 

Theophorus, 355. 

Therapeutae, 284, 363. 

Thessalonians, 100, 101. 

Thessalonica, 99; its first Papal 
Vicar, 515. 

Thomas, 32, 35, 41. 

Thorndike, 498. 

Thrace, 254. 

Thraseas, 464. 

Three taverns, 131. 

Thundering legion, 252. 

Thurificati, 270. 

Tiber, 273, 309. 

Tiberius, 30, 53, 55, 375. 

Tickets of peace, 574. 

Tillemont, 49, 457, 465, 500. 

Timothy, 69, 114, 137, 206, 215, 217, 
380. 

Tischendorf, xiii., 138, 224. 



Titles of canonical books, 159-160. 

Titles of Christ, 172, 173. 

Titulus, 498. 

Titus, 106, 115, 161, 215-218, 228. 

Toledo, 470. 

Toleration, 261, 282. 

Tongues, 193, 207. 

Tortures, 266, 278. 

Toulouse, 254. 

Tours, 254. 

Tradition, 101, 169, 204; Roman, 

307, 409 ; attested by bishops, 469 ; 

its uncertainty, 572. 
Traditors, 277, 426. 
Trajan, 249, 262, 264, 356. 
Trallians, 359, 374. 
Translation of bishops, 551. 
Translations of N. T., 251. 
Transubstantiation, 443. 
Tregelles, 75, 174, 224. 
Trinity, 175, 339, 350, 413, 414, 416. 
Troas, 117, 137, 356, 359. 
Trophimus, 118, 137. 
Trustees of British Museum, 354. 
Trypho, 333. 
Turner, Sharon, 570. 
Tutelary guardians, 6. 
Twelve, The, 31-36, 41, 48, 59. 
Two years old, what, 28. 
Tychicus, 118, 134. 
Tyrannus, 105, 107. 
Tyre, 346, 476. 

Ulster, Synod of, 491. 

Uniformity, 236, 577, 578. 

Union, Bond of, 553. 

Unitarians, 412. 

Unity, Catholic, 516, 518. 

Unity of God, 9, 416. 

Unity, of the Church, 185, 224, 

235, 512; promised, 598. 
Unknown God, 92. 
Ussher, 354, 361, 378, 389, 487. 

Vacancy, Episcopal, at Rome, 496 ; 

at Alexandria, 506. 
Valens, 367. 
Valentine, 42, 301 ; his system, 394 ; 

his activity, 497 ; at Rome, 498. 
Valentinians, 336, 339. 
Valeria, 257. 

Valerian, 274, 2? 5, 280, 348. 
Valesius, 139. 
Vatican MS., 277; Library, 313; 

Lapidarian Gallery, 319-322. 



6l2 



INDEX. 



Venial sins, 401 451. 

Venus, 66, 96. 

Vicarious sacrifice of Christ, 23. 

Victor of Rome, 308, 309, 312, 335, 
413, 489, 521 ; supports Montan- 
ism, 314 ; holds a synod, 557, 558 ; 
opposes the Quartodecimans, 571. 

Vienne, 254, 267, 308, 531. 

Virginity, Perpetual, of Mary, 593. 

Virgins, 285, 348. 

Visible Church, 581, 584. 

Vitringa, 37, 152, 203, 207, 288. 

Vossius, 354, 361. 

Voting, 67, 317. 

Vow of a Nazarite, 1 19. 

Waddington, 438, 

Wake, 357. 

Wall, 432. 

Warburton, 352. 

Water of baptism, 437 ; in the wine 

of the Eucharist, 442. 
Westcott, 162, 251, 384, 409. 
Western Empire, 151. 
Whately, 435. 
Whiston, 30, 359. 
Whitby, 157, 217. 
Whitsunday, 570. 
Wieseler, 59, 115, 131. 



H9 C 



Will-worship, 404. 

Wilson, 196, 430. 

Winckelmann, 313. 

Wisdom, the Spirit so called, 414. 

Wise men from the East, 12, 28. 

Wishart, William, 510. 

Wombs of the faith, 514. 

Wonderful character of Christ, 27. 

Wordsworth, 160, 162, 163, 306, 314. 

Worship of the Church, 187, 226, 

421. 
Written Word, 169, 171. 

Xenophon, 91. 

Xerophagias, 450. 

Xystus, 323, 489 ; called a presby- 
ter, 532 ; did not keep the paschal 
feast, 571. 

Year of Christ's birth, 28. 
Yehovah, 351. 

Zacchaeus, 34. 
Zeal for martyrdom, 269, 
Zebedee, 35, 36. 
Zelotes, 33. 

Zephyrinus, 314, 315, 350 
Zoroaster, 399, 425. 
Zosimus, 368, 369. 
Zumpt, 294. 



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